cedar mountain potters
My grandmother encouraged art making as long as I can remember, and it is her I credit with being one of the main reasons I have survived as an artist this long. She gave me my first watercolor set and never failed to support the notion that I could be a success in the arts.
After early explorations in painting and photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, I chose to focus exclusively in clay. By sheer luck, I was blessed with cheap rent for many years in a rough section of the south end of Boston, (now extremely fashionable), and was able to polish my pottery chops while working as a bicycle messenger. Many pots later, I spent a fall concentration at the Penland School, and was then deemed ready for graduate study.
Cranbrook Art Academy was an ideal springboard for my work and myself. My time there showed that through extensive studio work, critique, and exposure to many great clay artists, a wider range of possibility.
1990 brings me back to Boston, a teaching and technical job at the SMFA, a studio residency and teaching at Mudflat Clay Studio. A decade of teaching made me a better potter. I acquired the skills necessary to build kilns and start my own studio.
In 1999 my wife Laurel, and I moved to Parsonsfield, Maine and established Cedar Mountain Potters, where we produce one-of-a kind, functional, and sculptural clay art. We fire our work in gas reduction, salt, and wood-fired kilns.
Education
1990 Master of Fine Arts, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
1989 Watershed Center for Ceramic Art, Newcastle, ME
1987 Penland School of Craft, Fall Concentration, Penland NC
1981 Tuscarora Pottery School, Tuscarora, NV
1981 Diploma, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Teaching
1991 - 2004 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1991 - 1999 Mudflat Pottery School, Somerville, MA
Selected Exhibitions
2008 “Clay Sanctuaries” Duo Exhibition w/ Laurel MacDuffie, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA
2007 “Mostly Pottery ’07 “Invitational Exhibition, Museum of the Earth, Ithica, N.Y.
“Salad Days” Invitational Exhibition, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, ME
2006Watershed Benefit Auction, Chris Gustin Studio, So. Dartmouth, MA
“Smaller Than a Breadbox” Invitational Exhibition, Shelburne Art Center, Shelburne, VT
“Ceramics Biennial 2006” New Hampshire Institute of Art Manchester, N.H.
“Reflection International” Highland Gallery, Portland, ME
“14th Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”, Lancaster, PA
“Looking Forward, Looking Back” Invitational Exhibition, Fuller Museum of Craft, Brockton, MA
“Functional Ceramics 2006” Invitational Exhibition, Wayne Center for the Arts,Wooster, Ohio
2005 “Ceramics 2005” The Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT
“ Thirteenth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”, Lancaster, PA
“ Honoring the Barn” Shelburne Craft School Gallery, Shelburne, VT
2004Blue Heron Gallery, Deer Isle, ME
“ Envisioned in a Pastoral Setting “
Shelburne Farms Museum, Shelburne, VT
“Work of the Hand” Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
Maine Potters Market, Portland, ME ( co-op member since 2000)
Maine Crafts Guild, Falmouth and Bar Harbor Exhibitions
( member since 2002)
Shelburne Craft School Gallery, Shelburne, VT
Hedgerow Gallery Martinsville, ME
2003Blue Heron Gallery, Deer Isle, ME
“ Barns and Farms”, Barnsite Studio and Gallery, Kewaunee, WI
2002“Tenth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”, Lancaster, PA
“The State of Clay”, Ceramics Guild of the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, Lexington, MA
2001“Ninth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”,
Lancaster Museum of Art Lancaster, PA
1999“Seventh Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”, Lancaster, PA
“Pacific Tides”, Lancaster, PA
“The State of Clay”, Ceramics Guild of the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society Lexington, MA
1997“Fifth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”,
1996 “Clay at the Clark”, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
“Invitational Clay Exhibition”, Buckingham, Browning and Nichols School Gallery, Cambridge, MA
1995“Monarch National Clay Competition”, Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts Florence, Alabama
“Studio Days”, Chester Springs Studio Chester Springs, PA
1993 “Thirteen in Clay”, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
1990 “Art of Clay,” Boston Visual Artists Union Gallery Boston, MA
1989 “Michigan Ceramics ‘90”, Detroit Artists Market Detroit, MI
Awards / Honors
2006Zachos Award, Ceramics Biennial 2006 New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, N.H.
1999 Somerville Arts Council Fellowship Grant
1994 Artist in Residence Fellowship, Chester Springs Studio, Chester Springs, PA
1992 Somerville Arts Council Support Grant
1990 Artist in Residence, Mudflat Studio, Somerville, MA
Publications
1996 Ceramics Monthly, October issue
1997 Clay Times, Sept/Oct issue
2005 “500 Cups”,Lark Books
2006 “500” Pitchers”, Lark Books
DAVID ORSER
BIO
