A Starting Point

John has been working with clay for 23 years. At seven years old, John's mother took him to Stonehaus Pottery in Pensacola rather than dropping him off in day care. At Stonehaus, John met internationally known ceramic artist, Peter King. John and Peter remain fellow artists and friends to this day.

Loyola University ceramics professor, W. Steve Rucker showed John the potential within a career as an artist working with clay in a very conceptual and sculptural way. Rucker's use of ceramics as an "installation" medium was very influential upon John as a young Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Loyola in New Orleans. Other teachers very influential on John are, Piero Fenci of Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, Texas) and James Watkins, Texas Tech (Lubbock, TX),

Artists Robert Arneson (ceramics), Claes Oldenburg (pop art), and Michael Lucero (ceramics) have also influenced John's work.

Professional Goals

As John put it, "Professional goals, gosh! There are a lot." John would like to continue to exhibit competitively on a regional and national level. He finds himself interested in becoming more active in the southeastern United States as opposed to trying to "make it big in New York" or other national venues. John says he is "stangely proud" of his region and would like to be an artist that represents his geographic area.

As far as academic goals go, John would like to run a ceramics program that is a vital part of a high-quality Bachelor of Fine Arts program. He would like to help students find positions in graduate programs across the country. He would like to experience the same enjoyment that his professors felt when he was accepted to multiple graduate programs and found a teaching job.

John has an exhibit coming up in Janary 2003 at Lemieux Gallery in
New Orleans.

See For Yourself

See "In-a-Row" (above) and much more
of John's Work...

Soldier Gallery

Other Works