Casey Beck
Artist Statement
I make pottery not only out of a passion for my material, clay, and for the complex processes of wheel throwing and atmospheric firing, but also out of a passion for living with, using, and sharing handmade objects. For me, using pottery daily is an act of celebration. My philosophy of making pots comes in part from the particular history of utilitarian pottery that has developed over the last sixty years in Minnesota and Wester Wisconsin, where I went to school and my career began as a potter. More recently, the form language that I employ in my work has developed out of a study of historical pottery, glass, and metal vessels, along with architecture and my daily habits. My tight forms are contrasted with enigmatic surfaces that undulate around the surfaces of the vessels, speaking to a sense of timelessness and natural process.
Artist Bio
Beck is a studio potter in Lincoln, NE and holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His current research focuses on the process of soda firing, which utilizes sodium carbonate, and its volatilization inside the kiln at peak temperature to glaze his wares. After completion of his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2019, Beck spent two years living and working in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. During this time, he continued to make pottery and research soda firing, work in the Sales Gallery at Northern Clay Center (NCC), and taught classes. Beck has been a resident artist at the Cub Creek Foundation in Virginia and Faenza Art Ceramic Center in Italy, was awarded the 2020 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant through NCC, was a 2023 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist and has taught firing and making workshops internationally. Outside of the studio, Beck takes pleasure in using handmade pots and eating delicious home cooked meals off of them with his friends while listening to music fitted for each experience.