School of Art and Design at Alfred University

Linda Sikora
Professor of
Ceramic Art
EMail Website

Artist's Statement

Jars and teapots are at the front edge of my recent inquiry. The teapot, more demanding of specific engineering particular to its function, and the jar, a generous canvas, its criteria of containment more permissive. How I imagine, and make, and reflect on each piece shapes the atmosphere it generates and influences how it becomes positioned in cultural space. I am interested in pottery form for its familiarity and congeniality; its ability to disappear into private/personal activities and places. But, this is only one aspect of the work which, through its intelligence of color, form and stance can also excite/awaken attention and thereby reflect back to the viewer their own imagination. Invisible or visible, or oscillating back and forth between these states, the pots foster both attention and inattention. They are insistently existent, and continuously stir.

Education

1989-1992

University of Minneapolis - Master of Fine Arts

1988-1989

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS, Canada Bachelor of Fine Arts

1983

University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Glaze Technology

1980-1983

David Thompson University Center, Nelson, British Columbia, Canada - Diploma of Fine Arts

Selected Exhibitions

2014

*Two Person Show, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA (September 2014)

2013

*Two Person Show, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IO (Fall 2013)

Invitational, "Past Presenters", Jerry Drown Wood Gallery - Arrowmont School of Crafts, (in conjunction with the Utilitarian Clay Conference), Gatlinburg, TN (September 2012)

2012

Invitational, “Past Presenters”, Jerry Drown Wood Gallery – Arrowmont School of Crafts, (in conjunction with the Utilitarian Clay Conference), Gatlinburg, TN (September 2012)

Invitational, “Mentors Exhibition”, Jerry Drown Wood Gallery – Arrowmont School of Crafts, (in conjunction with the Utilitarian Clay Conference), Gatlinburg, TN (September 2012)

*Two Person Show, “Two Practices From a Common Studio”, Trax Gallery, Berkeley, CA (November 2012)

Curated, “20 Years Strong: Women Working in Clay”, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL (November 2012)

Invitational, “External Views”, Red Star Studios Gallery, Kansas City, MO (August 2012)

Invitational, “Sources and Influences”, NCECA Exhibition, Seattle, WA (March 2012) and, Huntington Museum of Art (May 2012), Huntington, WV

2007

Curated, New Alfred, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA

Invitational, Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong, Australia, NSW

Invitational, "SOFA NCECA", Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Louisville, KY

2006

*Two Person Exhibition, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV

2005

Invitational, “Karen Karnes and Brown, Shapiro, Sikora, Metz”, Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA

Invitational, “Table Manners – Contemporary International Ceramics”, Crafts Council, Islington, London, UK

2004

Invitational, “Pots in the Kitchen Exhibition”, Rufford Craft Center, Nottinghamshire, UK will travel the exhibition to France, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands

2003

Invitational, “Mingei Legacy”, Mingei International Museum, San Deigo, CA (monograph)

2001

*One-person exhibition, “Linda Sikora - Recent Work”, Lill Street Gallery, Chicago, IL

2000

Invitational, “Mashiko Group Show 2000 - 19 American Potters Exhibition”, Moegi Gallery, Japan

1999

Invitational, “International Ceramics Exhibition”, 13th Ichon Festival, Ichon, Kyunggi Province, Korea

Invitational, “1999 China International Ceramic Invitational Exhibition” China Yaoware Ceramic Museum, Tongchuang, Xain, People’s Republic of China

Selected Visiting Artist Lectures, Panels, Residencies, Workshops, Juror

2013

Workshop (Two Weeks) Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO (August 2013)

2011

Visiting Artist, Workshop, Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts, City Design School

Lecture, Everson Museum of Art

Visiting Artist, Syracuse University

Workshop (Two Weeks), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME

2008

Panel/Demonstration, Utilitarian Clay Conference, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Gatlinburg, TN

2007

Lecture/Demonstrations, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

Panelist, “Teaching Prototypes”, NCECA Conference, Louisville, KY

Lecture/Demonstrations, The Clay Edge, Gulgong, Australia, NSW

2006

Visiting Artist, Visiting Ceramic Arts Lecture Series Meadows School of the Arts, SMU Dallas, TX

Lecture/Workshop, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV

Selected Books, Articles, Catalogues, Reviews

2012

Linda Sikora (author), “Necessity Presses”, The Studio Potter, Volume 40, Number 1, Winter/Spring 2011/2012, pg. 70-71

Ceramics Monthly Volume 40, Number 4, April 2012, ‘Sources and Influences: Mentors and Students’, author: Kathleen Kneafsey, pg. 36-41 (quote, photograph)

2011

Ceramics Monthly, Volume 59, Number 10, December 2011, ‘Exposure:TableSpace’, pg. 16-17 (Co-curator and Project Director of exhibition)

Ceramic Art and Perception, Exhibition Review: TableSpace, author: Janet Koplos (Co-curator and Project Director of exhibition)

Interpreting Ceramics – On-line publication, www.interpretingceramics.com, (published transcript from CAA panel) Issue 12, November 2010

2009

Cooper, Emanuel, Contemporary Ceramics, Thames and London Press, 2009 (page 34 photograph)

Sikora, Linda (author), ‘Metaphysical Materiality’ (review of ceramic installation work by artist Linda Sormin), Ceramic Review, Issue 239 September/October 2009

2005

The Studio Potter, vol 33, no 2 (June 2005), Contemporary Functional Pottery: A Sampling of Views, Linda Sikora, guest editor, 18-43

2004

The Studio Potter, vol 32, no 2(June 2004), “Linda Sikora: Beneath the Surface”, Mar Shapiro, interviewer/author, 7-14

Selected Public Collections

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
College of St. Catherine - St. Paul, MN
University of Colorado - Boulder, CO
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts - Racine, WI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts - Minneapolis, MN
Northern Clay Center - Minneapolis, MN
Everson Museum of Art – Syracuse, NY