2015 A.R.T. Artist Hank Hall Teapot Selected for Regional Exhibit at Coe College!

“Parade Ready” – a mixed media teapot by Spirit Lake artist Hank Hall – has been selected for the juried show “River to River” at Coe College, in conjunction with the third bi-annual Iowa Clay Conference at The Ceramic Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The River to River exhibit will highlight the richness and diversity of ceramic art within Iowa and across eleven other Midwest states. The show runs from September 11-October 3 at the Sinclair Galleries on the campus of Coe College with a reception on Friday, October 2, from 6-8 pm is part of the Iowa Clay Conference that weekend.

Juror for the exhibit is Bede Clarke, Professor of Art at the University of Missouri since 1992. He received his Master of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa (1990) and a BFA from Eckerd College (1982).  Bede’s work is found in public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad.  He maintains a studio in Columbia, Missouri, where he produces his ceramic art work and continues to exhibit worldwide. Currently, he is working with wheel-thrown wood-fired stoneware vessels and large wall tiles emphasizing abstract drawing and color. He is interested in making work, which “like a good meal leaves a healthy, full feeling.”

Hall’s “Parade Ready” is a combination of bold and whimsical elements. It includes a wheel-thrown and altered teapot with a mixed media lid and handle, metal wheels, and a wooden ramp base. The teapot is made of bisque-fired cone 6 stoneware, sprayed with green glitter paint on the outside and white-glazed inside.

Hall explains, “My number one goal when making teapots is to satisfy my own esthetic sense of what makes for an entertaining, inventive, and personal teapot form. If others get the same creative kick out of them as I do, it doesn’t get much better than that!”

Hall creates one-of-a-kind clay, drawing and mixed media pieces in his home studio in Spirit Lake, IA. After 34 years of teaching art in Marshalltown, Graettinger, and Spirit Lake and an additional 10 years teaching private classes and running an art business, he now focuses on developing new work. Several directions of his imaginative work include teapots with mixed media embellishments; abstract drawings started with remote-controlled cars and robots; and colorful abstract paintings. An important early influence on his art was studying under Bauhaus-trained, master potter Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville, CA in the summers of 1973 and 1974. For more information, contact Hall at 712-330-6007.

Hank Hall in 6th International Texas Teapot Tournament

 Hank working on "Celebrating Line & Dots" teapot

Here's an update from A.R.T. participant Hank Hall…

Two of Hank’s signature teapots are currently showing in the 6^th International Texas Teapot Tournament presented by C.A.M.E.O. and 18 Hands Gallery in Houston, Texas. Celebrating Line & Dots and Squirt II are among 80 exhibited teapots from across the county, England and Singapore. The juror for the exhibit Piero Fenci is a distinguished ceramic artist and educator with an MFA in ceramics from Alfred University in Alfred, New York.  

"Celebrating Line & Dots"

© Hank Hall 

18 Hands Gallery is a premier ceramic arts gallery located in the Historic Heights District in Houston. CAMEO (Clay Arts Museum and Education Organization) of Houston sponsors exhibits of emerging artists, workshops and demonstrations in support of its core mission of supporting education and appreciation of clay as a form of art. The exhibit opened at 18 Hands Gallery with a reception on January 12 and runs through January 27.

"Squirt II "

© Hank Hall

Hall’s fascination with making teapots started when he studied under Bauhaus-trained Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville, California during the summers of 1973 and 1974. His goal now is satisfying his own esthetic sense of what makes an entertaining, inventive, and personal teapot form. According to Hall, “Sometimes I entertain myself by searching store aisles for hardware gadgets, trinkets, wire, and other materials to fashion into a teapot lid or an embellishment. Recently I have been decorating my teapots with dots and lines to bring my interests in drawing and clay together.”

Hall is a full-time working artist in Olde Town Spirit Lake where he has renovated the late Joe Lieb’s wood-working shop into an art studio and gallery called Art on 16^th. The gallery features outstanding work by area fine artists - including Hall’s teapots, pottery, drawings, and paintings - and started the tradition of the area’s First Friday Art Trek in 2007. For more information go to www.hankhallarton16th.com or Facebook. 

2012 A.R.T. Artist Hank Hall

Circus Arrival Teapot - © Hank Hall (2012)

This 2012 Artisans Road Trip artist spot light is on Hank Hall of Spirit Lake!

Hank Hall - proprietor and resident artist of Art on 16^th in Olde Town Spirit Lake - continues his fascination with making one-of-a-kind teapots. Recently, his “Circus Arrival” teapot was selected for the 23^rd Annual Teapot Show “On the Road Again” which opens in Chicago on April 1. For the third year in a row, Hank has entered and been selected for this prestigious exhibit of hand-crafted teapots.

“Circus Arrival” includes wheel-thrown and altered clay parts, acrylic paint, and a handle made from copper tubing, resin elephants and a wooden ball. The high-fire glazed interior also makes it a fully functional teapot. Hank says he enjoyed figuring out the handle and searching for the “right elephants” to complement the elephant-like body. “Circus Arrival” will be on display at Watertower Place on N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago between April 1 and May 15, at Chiaroscuro gallery, Suite 3050.

Hank has participated in the Artisans Road Trip at Art on 16^th since he re-purposed Joe Lieb’s long-time woodworking shop into an art studio and gallery in 2007 and before that at Carnegie Hall Artworks, also in Spirit Lake. Generally viewed as a potter and mixed media artist, Hank continues to create one-of-kind teapots along with his distinctive abstract drawings and paintings. An Iowa Arts Council-sanctioned teaching artist, he also offers art classes to people of all ages to help them turn up their creativity and experience success working with materials. His extensive schedule of summer art classes is released to the public by April 1. Along with Hank’s work, Art on 16th represents the work of nearly 20 other area fine artists and has regular hours starting in May, with appointments available year round. More information about Hank and Art on 16^th is available at www.hankhallarton16th.com or by calling 712.330.6007.

Join us again soon for more great artists and happenings from the 2012 Artisans Road Trip!

Artisans Road Trip Artist Hank Hall

Hank Hall

This A.R.T. highlight introduces Hank Hall!

Hank Hall is a full-time artist in Olde Town Spirit Lake where he has renovated a 1948 wood-working shop into an art studio and gallery called Art on 16th. He taught middle school and high school art in Iowa for 34 years and continues to teach clay, painting, drawing, and sculpture classes in his studio. He is very proud of the fact that many of his students have studied art in prestigious art institutions and pursued art-related careers.

Celebrating Clay Cone 6 Stoneware

Hank’s creative skills were shaped early in his career by two summers of intensive training at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville, CA with Marguerite Wildenhain. A Bauhaus-trained master potter considered to be one of the ten most significant clay artists of the 20^th Century, Wildenhain demanded high quality craftsmanship and then encouraged him to develop his own signature work.

Dotted Teapot

Today Hank creates one-of-a-kind teapots with mixed media embellishments and other functional and sculptural forms. His artistic goal is satisfying his own esthetic sense of what makes for an entertaining, inventive, and personal form. “If others experience a creative kick, then I think that’s as good as it gets.”

Hank’s artwork has been exhibited nationally, and he has earned several best of shows in recent juried art exhibits.

For more information visit www.hankhallarton16th.com.

Check back again for more on events, activities and artisans of the 2010 Artisans Road Trip!