Professor and Area Chair of Ceramics, Ted Saupe, recently participated in the Northern Clay Center’s 21st annual American Pottery Festival. Saupe was one of the 25 artists invited to participate and showcase their commitment to ceramics.

The American Pottery Festival (APF) is an annual fundraising benefit and celebration of notable clay makers. Artists from all over the country met in Minneapolis to share their work, insight and studio practice. Saupe also participated in a panel discussion with other artists, discussing studio practices such as defining moments in their work, where he shared about his switch to hand-building. Saupe’s research focuses on his interests in utilitarian pottery of the southeastern United States from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the country pottery of Oribe, Japan. He has always loved these pots from different cultures and his work captures the freshness and strengths of these two influences.

Ted Saupe received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1979. Saupe has focused on the vessel for most of his career. He uses both 2D and 3D components to create objects that reflect his musings on history, the unconscious mind, and past relationships. He handbuilds his porcelain cups, boxes, and architectural forms. The surfaces are unrefined, a match for his graffiti-like imagery. Teapot, pictured below, is one of Saupe's vessels displayed and sold as a part of American Pottery Festival.