Mike Wisner

Education

1992 – 1999 – Intensive Spanish Language studies in Quito, Ecuador, Antigua, Guatemala, and Chihuhaua, Mexico. Bilingual Fluency
1989 – Present – Annual residences in Mata Ortiz, Mexico for intensive study with Juan Quezada, National Treasure Master Potter.
1989 – 1998 – Workshops with many prominent Native American potters, including Lucy, Emma, and Dolores Lewis, Blue Corn, Laura Gauchapin, Fawn Navase, Nicholas Quezada, Noe Quezada, Tomas Osuna, Trini Silveria, and Edmundo Lopez
1983 – 1986 – University of Maryland – B.S. - Biology
1981 – 1983 – Charles County Community College – Visual Art Major
1989 – 2005 – Resident Artist, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO

Collaborations/Consulting

Andrew Goldsworthy –consulted artist on local clay bodies for clay installation

Takashi Nakazato –Collaboration on thrown and textured ceramic vessels for exhibitions in Tokyo 2008

Artist Statement

I look at the creative process as a collaboration between the materials found in nature and the artist (also from nature as we often forget). Each has a voice in the process. It is important to remember art as a collaborative process and not an isolated event created by man alone. It an expression of our connection to the natural world all around us. Beautiful environments create a mirror that reflects inward, bounces around inside us until something matures... resonates..and finally draws creativity to the surface. This textural work has roots in traditional pottery. Over the past Twenty-five years I have studied extensively under many masters of the southwest pottery traditions. Initially, I was drawn to ancient ceramics by the harmonious fit between vessel form and decorative pattern. Following that fascination I experimented for years with painting. Today my work continues investigating form and pattern now using texture as the design element. I am fascinated with simple sensual shapes and how pattern evolves as it moves over that surface. My creativity is sparked by contact with the natural world. Plants, flowers, clouds, time spent in nature seems to touch something in us reaffirming our connection to everything. That experience resonates inside and collaborates with our life experience, moving us to express the feeling in a visible form. I love being a part of the process.

Exhibitions and Awards
2007 – NCECA Louisville, Kentucky Chapman Friedman Gallery
2007 – Red Brick Art Center, Aspen Colorado
2007 – Denver International Airport . Best of Colorado
2006 - Harvey Meadows Gallery. Anderson Ranch Artists Exhibition

2005 – NCECA Baltimore exhibition Anderson Ranch invitational
2004 – Lill Street Art Center. Two Person Show. Michael Wisner, Michael Corney
2004- University of Miami. Anderson Ranch Past Residents Show
2004 – Feats of Clay. Two Merit Awards. Two Purchase Awards. Juror Richard Notkin
2003 –National Endowment of the arts-Colorado Council on the Arts grant recipient
2003 – Lill Street Art Center, Chicago Illinois, invitational Anderson Ranch Show
2003- Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles California
2003 – Red Brick Art Center, Aspen Colorado, Aspen Pottery Guild Show
2003 – Artist on Santa Fe, Denver Colorado, invitational show of western slope artists
2003 – Colorado Clay, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado, twenty Colorado artists selected
2003 – NCECA- San Diego, Orton International Cone Box Show
2003 - American Pottery Festival, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, twenty invited American artists
2002 – Solo Exhibition, Michael Wisner Native Clays, Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, Colorado
2002 – NCECA - Orton International Cone Box Show, Bakers University, Kansas City, Kansas, two-year traveling show, First Place Purchase Award for Orton permanent collection
2002 – American Pottery Festival, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, twenty invited American artists
2002 – Anderson Ranch Arts Center Faculty Show, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2002 – Colorado Clay, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado, twenty Colorado artists selected
2001 – Exhibits USA, The Potters of Mata Ortiz, two-year traveling show, nine museums, beginning at Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio
2001 – Clark County Heritage Museum, Henderson, Nevada, Exhibits USA
2001 – CEBIKO - Korean World Ceramics Exposition, first world competition, Honorable Mention Award in exposition, pottery is now in permanent collection
2001 – Smithsonian Museum, Renwick Art Museum, represented Colorado in US show
2001 – Anderson Ranch Ceramics, Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs CO
2001 – Berkshires Museum, Interlaken School of the Arts Show, Massachusetts
2001 – Hill County Arts Foundation Faculty Show, Ingram, Texas
2001 – NCECA - Anderson Ranch Arts Center Clay 2001, Charlotte, North Carolina
2001 – Clark County Heritage Museum, Henderson, Nevada, Exhibits USA
2000 – Anderson Ranch Arts Center Annual Holiday Show, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2000 – Baltimore Clayworks Invitational Show, Baltimore, Maryland
2000 – NCECA - Colorado Clay Exhibition, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado Howell-Cole Gallery Award
2000 – NCECA - Colorado Instructors in Clay, Westminster Clay Studio, Award-Jurors Choice
2000 – The Clay Up There, Anderson Ranch Clay Artists, Andrews University, Michigan
2000 – El Museo Latino, Omaha, Nebraska, Exhibits USA
2000 – Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, Exhibits USA
2000 – Perspective Gallery, Blacksburg, Virginia, Exhibits USA
2000 – J. Wayne Stark University Center Galleries, College Station, Texas, Exhibits USA
1999 – Roaring Fork Open, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado
1999 – Origins in Clay, Ingram, Texas, juror-Eddie Dominguez, Award-Honorable Mention
1999 – Anderson Ranch Arts Center Staff Fall Show, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
1999 – All Media, National Juried Exhibition, Chico Art Center, Chico, California
1999 – Galex 33, multi-media exhibition, Galesburg, Illinois
1999 – Tenth Annual Black and White Show, Artists Unlimited, Tampa Bay, Florida
1999 – Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California, Exhibits USA
1999 – Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, Texas, Exhibits USA
1998 – Colorado Mountain College Faculty Show, Compass, Woody Creek, Colorado
1998 – Evergreen Arts Festival, Evergreen, Colorado, First Place Award - Ceramics
1998 – Colorado Mountain College Holiday Show, Aspen, Colorado
1998 – NCECA - Anderson Ranch Artists – Evelyn Siegel Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas
1989 – 2004 – Anderson Ranch Residents’ gallery shows

Private and Permanent Collections

Target Permanent Collection, Minneapolis Minnesota
General Mills Permanent Collection, Minneapolis Minnesota
CEBIKO World Expo Museum, Korea
Garth Clark, New York, New York
Peter H. Voulkos, Oakland, California
Takashi Nakazato, Fourteenth generation Tarahatsu potter Japan
Orton Cone Box Permanent Collection
Juan Quezada, Mexican Artist of the Year, Living Treasure
Richard T. Notkin, Helena, Montana
Colorado Mountain College, Aspen, Colorado
Spring Island Trust, South Carolina
John Sexton, photographer, Carmel Valley, California
Blue Corn, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
Sam Maloof, woodworker, MacArthur Fellow
Inn of the Anasazi, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Anita and Albert Waxman, Aspen, Colorado
Sharon and John Hoffman, Kansas City, Kansas
Elizabeth and Robert Malott, Chicago, Illinois
Joan and Irving Harris, Chicago, Illinois
Dr Richard O’Conner, San Diego, California
Lamar Briggs, painter, West Palm Beach, Florida
Bunni and Paul Copaken, Kansas City, Kansas
Ah Leon, Taiwanese Teapot Master
Patty and Robert Mack, Aspen, Colorado