John Stephenson

John H. Stephenson received a B.A. Ed. Degree (1952) at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls Iowa and his MFA degree (1958) in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He had a prominent career teaching ceramics at the University of Michigan from 1959-1995, sitting as interim Dean of the School of Art at U of M between 1991-1993. While at Michigan he received the Catherine B. Heller Distinguished Professorship, Artist Grant National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and honorary Doctorate of Arts from Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids, MI, and served as interim Dean of the School of Art.

“When form and color are successfully teamed up, they become the tools of the artist’s expression. Together they develop a force to touch the emotions. While the ceramic medium can be made to look like almost any other material, I am most satisfied when it reflects its “clay-ness.” Clay has been a signature for man from earliest times, telling us what it was like to be alive at a particular time and in a particular place.”

- John Stephenson artist statement, Stephenson Ceramic Studio