Jeff Forster creates uniquely textured ceramic objects that reference sustenance, ritual and ceremony. By using modern packing materials as molds and leaving evident the barcodes on these molds, Forster’s art brings together the handmade quality of traditional arts and the mass production of consumer items.
While some of his pieces might actually be used, others quietly allude to the idea of function: “With this reference to function, formal quality and implied age, my hope is that these objects carry connotations of ritual or the sacred. The irony lies in that these precious objects come from industrial materials. . . While these molds are mass-produced, my pieces are one of a kind, even if produced from the same mold.”
Forster holds a MFA in Ceramics from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois, and a BA in Art Education from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He currently teaches at North Harris Community College and is a member of ClayHouston, National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts, and College Art Association. In 2009, he was selected by Helen Drutt English to be the Center’s Helen Drutt Studio Fellow.
