Biography
Will Dickert is a studio potter and educator in Asheville, NC. He creates stoneware pottery and vessels in his shared studio space situated among a vibrant community of makers and artists along the French Broad River. He was raised in Bristol, Virginia, the middle of three brothers, and has a strong affinity and love for the people and natural environment of the Southern Appalachian region and Blue Ridge Mountains. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus in Ceramics from the University of North Carolina Asheville, and as a post baccalaureate student received a North Carolina Art Education licensure. Teaching and exposing his community to the craft and art of clay is a passion that continues to play a significant role in his involvement in the arts as a whole. His work is wood fired using a number of techniques and kilns both traditional and contemporary in design and effect. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally and is represented in a number of private and public collections, as well as renowned contemporary galleries. Will enjoys live music, vegetable gardening, hiking and backpacking, summer camps, cooking, eating, Jeopardy!, tennis, beer, baseball, skiing, and is a proud new parent with his brilliant and beautiful wife.
Artist Statement
I am most interested in exploration of form in my pottery. I use the woodfiring process to illuminate my work with the naturally occurring effects inherent to firing primarily unglazed stoneware clay bodies with wood. The methods I use in my studio practice split my work into two intermingled yet distinctive explorations of form: wheel thrown pots with a focus on function, and hand built vessels that reference utility and expand my definition of functional ceramics and sculptural objects. My work and practice are influenced by a strong sense of sentimentality for my family and friends, my recollection of childhood, and my home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Appalachia. I seek a sense of quiet rhythm and evolution through both persistent, deliberate experiential learning and an embrace of serendipity and chance throughout my practice. The direct record of response to touch and manipulation of the raw material as well as the involved, deliberate loading and firing of my work in wood-burning kilns provides me with a tenuous and exciting balance. By using a holistic approach encompassing my senses, the materials, history of process, my results, and observation, my intention is to elicit a feeling or sentiment that relates to time, place, people, purpose and impermanence.
Resume
Will Dickert
56 Morgan Brach Estates
Candler, NC 28715
Will Dickert Studios
2000 Riverside Drive, Ste. 20
Woodfin, NC 28804
Email: will@willdickertceramics.com
Phone: 423) 360- 1928
Education
2010 Teaching Certification, Post-Baccalaureate, K-12 Art, University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC
2008 Bachelor of Arts, High Distinction in Art (Ceramics), University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC
Exhibitions and Shows
2020 Woodfire Works III, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
2020 NC Woodfire: Then and Now, NC Pottery Center, Seagrove, NC
2020 Southern Waters and Mountain Clay, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
2019 WNC Pottery Festival, Dillsboro, NC
2019 An Occasion for the Arts, Historic Market Square, Williamsburg, VA
2019 Brookgreen Arts Festival, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, SC
2019 15th Annual Artisphere, Greenville, SC
2018 14th Annual Potters Market Invitational, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
2018 11th Annual Marshall Handmade Market, Marshall, NC
2018 Solo Show, In Tandem Gallery, Bakersville, NC
2018 Symposium Exhibition: 18th Annual Kohila International Wood Fired Ceramics Symposium, Tohisoo Manor, Kohila, Estonia
2018 Woodfire Works II, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
2018 14th Annual Artisphere, Greenville, SC
2018 Different Shapes: Sculptural Ceramics in North Carolina, NC Pottery Center, Seagrove, NC
2018 Winter Show, Green Hill Arts Center, Greensboro, NC
2017 13th Annual Potters Market Invitational, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
2017 Degrees of Wood, In Tandem Gallery, Bakersville, NC
2017 Confluence, StarWorks Ceramics, Star, NC
2017 Current Effects, Asheville Area Arts Council, Asheville, NC
2017 Connected By Fire: Woodfire Invitational, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
2016 12th Annual Potters Market Invitational, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
2016 Clay, The Galleries at Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC
2016 Group Show, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
2015 Clay, The Galleries at Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC
2015 Venture Local Fair 2015, Asheville, NC
2015 11th Annual Potters Market Invitational, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
2015 Prized Pieces: The Makers Collection, NC Pottery Center, Seagrove, NC
2015 Apprenticelines Exhibition, 49th Annual NCECA Conference, Providence, RI
2015 44th Annual TAC Fine Arts and Crafts Showcase, Brevard, NC
2015 New Times Three, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
2014-15 Potters of Madison County, Marshall, NC
2014 Winterfest, Baltimore Clay Works, Baltimore, MD
2014 Zen, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC
2014 42nd Annual Biltmore Village Art and Craft Fair, Asheville, NC
2013 Winter Show, Greenhill Art Center, Greensboro, NC
2013 Potters of Virginia, Pump Gallery, Asheville, NC
2013 42nd Annual TAC Fine Arts and Crafts Showcase, Brevard, NC
2013 Western North Carolina Pottery Festival, Dillsboro, NC
2012-15 Cup Show, River Arts District, Clingman Café, Asheville, NC
2012 Solo Exhibition, Pump Gallery, Asheville, NC
2012 The Phil Mechanic Artists Exhibition, Upstairs ArtSpace, Tryon, NC
2011 Phil Mechanic Studios Member Show, Pump Gallery, Asheville, NC
2011 Bakersville Creekwalk Arts Festival, Bakersville, NC
2010-17 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, Bristol, VA
2009-18 River Arts District Studio Stroll, Asheville, NC
2008 Senior Show, University of North Carolina Asheville, Highsmith Gallery, Asheville, NC
Teaching and Lecture Experience
2018 Presenter and Invited Artist, 18th Annual Kohila International Wood Fired Ceramics Symposium, Tohisoo Manor, Kohila, Estonia
2018 Instructor, Ceramics, Haywood Community College, Clyde, NC
2016 Assistant, WNC PreHeat Woodfire Conference, Asheville, NC
2016 Studio Assistant, Josh Copus: Woodfiring Intensive: Unifying Material, Form and Surface, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2016 Studio Assistant, Lindsay Oesteritter: Reduction Cooled Woodfire Workshop, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
2015 Studio Assistant, Eric Knoche: Handbuilding Lab Workshop, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC
2014-17 Director, Pottery Program, Rockbrook Camp for Girls, Brevard, NC
2011-14 Instructor, Ceramics, Continuing Education Department, Blue Ridge Community College, Flat Rock, NC
2009-14 Assistant Director, Pottery Program, Rockbrook Camp for Girls, Brevard, NC
2010-12 Instructor, Clay Class, After School Arts Program, Claxton Elementary School, Asheville, NC
2010 Student Teacher, Elementary School Art (K-5), Claxton Elementary School, Asheville, NC
Other Experience
2008-20 Founder/ Owner, Will Dickert Studios, Woodfin, NC
2011-15 Studio Assistant/ Apprentice, Eric Knoche, Knoche Studio, Alexander, NC
2015 Kiln Build, Eric Knoche Studios, Barnardsville, NC
2014-17 Director, Clay Program, Rockbrook Camp for Girls, Brevard, NC
2013 Invited Artist, 16 Hands Studio Tour Weekend, Over the Moon Gallery, Floyd, VA
2013 Curator, Merle W. Dickert: A Retrospective Exhibition, Pump Gallery, Asheville, NC
2013 Curator, Potters of Virginia, Pump Gallery, Asheville, NC
2012-14 Member Artist, Round the Mountain Artisan Network of Southwest Virginia, Abingdon, VA
2009-14 Member Artist, River Arts District Artists Association, Asheville, NC
2009 Carolina Kiln Build, Copus Pottery, Walnut, NC
2008 Participant, Japenese Woodfired Ceramics Workshop, Judith Duff, Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts, Asheville, NC
2007 Studio Technician, Pottery, Camp Greystone, Tuxedo, NC
2006 Studio Technician, Ceramics, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA
Permanent Collections
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Kohila Symposium, Tohisoo Manor, Kohila, Estonia
Gallery Representation (current)
Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheville, NC
Arrowmont School, Gatlinburg, TN
New Morning Gallery, Asheville, NC
In Tandem Gallery, Bakersville, NC
Brevard Clay, Brevard, NC
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL