#16 • Samuel Johnson

Part of NDMOA: 29th Annual Autumn Art Auction (live auction by AcrePro )

Starting at $300.00

Status: Available

Lot 16 Samuel Johnson Saint Joseph, Minnesota Bud Plates, 2025 Ash glaze on stoneware Varies $400 – 500 Samuel Johnson was born on the Eastern prairie of the Red River Valley in 1973. After studying painting and ceramics at the University of Minnesota at Morris, his practice began as an apprentice of Richard Bresnahan, founder and director of the Saint John's Pottery. Over the next five years, his work evolved from his travels to Denmark, New York, and Japan, where he researched Scandinavian Ceramic design, assisted in private porcelain studios, and collaborated with Japanese ceramicist Koie Ryoji. Since earning his graduate degree in fine art from the University of Iowa, he has been teaching at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University (MN). In an interview with Voyage Chicago, he states, I wasn't initially drawn toward making unglazed utilitarian pottery with dark surfaces, but over time, I began to see this as a way to evoke a sense of mystery and stillness. Both seemed an effective response to a culture which celebrates quick and insignificant revelations. My work is also imprecise. When shaping a vessel, I might use a tool to scrape or beat a form that may otherwise seem rigidly structured and symmetrically balanced. Sometimes small stones in the clay crack and burst through the surface. The clay and fire are both irregular and natural forces. But when one thinks about it, so are we.