Will Dickert Ceramics

About the Artist

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