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John Beckelman

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  • INquire
    Inquire
    • Paintings
    • Mixed Media
    • Vessels
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    Picture
    Of the Earth: Leopard Sky

    Clay, mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 41.25" x 29.5"
    $2,000

    Picture
    Of the Earth: Mara Sky

    Clay, mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 41.25" x 29.5"
    $2,000

    Picture
    Red Lotus

    Clay, mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $1,500 framed

    Picture
    Water Region: North Gate

    Clay, mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 41.25" x 29.5"
    $2,500 Framed

    Picture
    On Becoming

    Clay, asphalt, paint, gold leaf on wood
    Art dimensions: 41.5" x 45" x 2"
    $2,500

    Picture
    In the Body

    Clay, mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $1,500 framed

    Picture
    Nightfall

    Clay, concrete, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 13" x 25.5" x 1"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Without Sound

    Clay, concrete, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 5" x 33" x 2"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Evening

    Clay, concrete, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 4" x 28" x 3"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Shards 7

    Ceramic, concrete
    Art dimensions: 21" x 8" x 9"
    $1,200

    Picture
    Shards 10

    Ceramic, concrete, glass
    Art dimensions: 9" x 16" x 14"
    $1,000

    Picture
    Shards 11

    Ceramic, concrete, glass
    Art dimensions: 4" x 11.25" x 11.25"
    $900

    Picture
    Shards 3

    Ceramic, concrete
    Art dimensions: 9.25" x 6.5" x 6
    $800

    Picture
    Shards 5

    Ceramic, concrete, glass
    Art dimensions: 8.5" x 9" x 8"
    $800

    Picture
    Horizon Suite: Ocean's Edge

    Clay, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 7" x 51" x 1.5"
    $2,500

    Picture
    Horizon Suite: Between Night & Day

    Clay, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 13" x 66" x 3"
    $2,500

    Picture
    Horizon Suite: Water Sky

    Clay, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 11" x 66" x 5"
    $2,500

    Picture
    Balance and Light

    Ceramic shards, concrete, mixed media
    Art dimensions: 96" x 18" x 18"
    $3,000

    Picture
    Vessel 3

    Stoneware (Residual salt)
    Art dimensions: 9" x 5.5"
    $250

    Picture
    Tapered Vessel (Glazed)

    Stoneware
    Art dimensions: 8.75" x 6.5"
    $250

    Picture
    Tapered Vessel (Short)

    Stoneware
    Art dimensions: 7" x 7"
    $200

    Picture
    Vessel 1

    Clay, acrylic resin, concrete
    Art dimensions: 31.5" x 17" x 19"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Vessel 2

    Clay, acrylic resin, concrete, black pigment
    Art dimensions: 26" x 14" x 11"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Vessel 3

    Clay, asphalt, stone, concrete
    Art dimensions: 36" x 15" x 13"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Vessel 4

    Clay, acrylic resin, concrete, black pigment
    Art dimensions: 36" x 19" x 19"
    $1,500

    Picture
    Vessel 5

    Clay, acrylic resin, concrete
    Art dimensions: 8" x 19" x 19"
    $750

  • The Birds in the Trees in the Rain

    Clay, concrete, mixed media

    JBE200405C
    Horizon Suite: A Delicate Balance

    Mixed media

    JBE191102C
    Water Region: In the Body

    Clay, mixed media on wood

    JBE141025C
    Vessel 4

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE150608C
    Tapered Vessel

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE150605C
    Small Bottle 3

    Stoneware (wood-fired)

    JBE141014C
    Rich with Birds and Fruit

    Clay, mixed media on wood

    JBE150601C
    Moment

    Clay, mixed media on paper

    JBE180101C
    Storage Jar with Lid

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141006C
    Yunomi 3

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141020C
    Yunomi 5

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141019C
    Incised Bowl

    Stoneware

    JBE141001C
    White Arc

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141012C
    Planter

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141002C
    Pillow Bowl

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141011C
    Small Bottle 2

    Stoneware (wood-fired)

    JBE141013C
    Yunomi 4

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141021C
    Yunomi 1

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141022C
    Bowl

    Stoneware (residual salt)

    JBE141010C
    Lidded Vessel

    Stoneware

    JBE150602C
    Navigating Boundaries

    Clay, mixed media on paper

    JBE141027C
    Table

    Mixed media

    JBE150701C
    Table 3

    Terra cotta, glass, mixed media

    JBE141008C
  • Biography
    John Beckelman's work has been exhibited in shows throughout the country, including California, New York, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Montana, and Iowa. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions, and grants. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics and his Master of Science in Ceramics from Illinois State University. John is the Robert O. Daniel Professor of Art, Emeritus at Coe College. He lives and works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he maintains a studio at the ‘Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio’ in downtown.

    Statement
    “Space that has been seized upon by the imagination cannot remain indifferent space…” 

    My ceramics are comprised of two very different, yet related, bodies of work. One group of work consists of clay vessels that were thrown on the potter’s wheel, then further manipulated off the wheel and, finally, fired in a residual salt-vapor reduction atmosphere to cone 1 (approximately 2100 degrees f.). The second body of work is a series of clay paintings that are composed of unfired clay (which has been stabilized with acrylic or oil binders) and a variety of other materials that have been applied to wood panels. In these pieces, images are slowly built up using clay and other materials such as oil and acrylic paints, enamels, graphite, powdered pigments, wax and gold leaf.

    The vessels are intended to evoke a sense of timelessness, stability and ease. Their forms and surfaces are inspired simultaneously by early neolithic storage vessels and the natural world. There is for me a curious intersection between the enduring, seemingly timeless character of those early vessels and the fleeting, yet wonderful, impermanence of phenomena in the natural world. The relationships between scale and form in the work are an effort to accentuate the sense of quiet presence.

    The paintings attempt to evoke qualities similar to the vessels, while at the same time trying to gently entice the viewer into the inner landscapes and interior spaces of our imagination and memory. To this end, the sense of perceptual space defined by the marks, textures and images is purposely ambiguous and the references are often topographic or cosmographic.

    While I often use a number of different materials in my work, clay is the material that most informs the things that i make. Having worked with clay, in a variety of forms and formats and in all its varied physical states for close to thirty years now, i find that the elemental character and expressive potential of clay continues to intrigue me. There seems to be a vital, persistent, almost universal, appeal to clay, which is like no other material.
    Previous Exhibitions
    Stillness and Occurrence
    Video
    Press
    John Beckelman art exhibition on view online during pandemic
    ~The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)
    CRMA Celebrates Opening of Two New Exhibitions...
    ~Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance
  • EDUCATION
    1978 MFA, Ceramics , Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
    1977 MS, Ceramics, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
    1974 Ceramics Apprentice, Thousand Islands Museum Craft School, Clayton, New York
    1972 BA, English, Hobart College, Geneva, New York
    TEACHING
    2015 – Present Professor of Art Emeritus, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1989 – 2015 Robert O. Daniel Professor of Art, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1978 – 2015 Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor of Art, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1982 – 2004 Chair, Art Department, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1975 Instructor, Campus Recreation Ceramics Program, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
    1974 Instructor, Children’s Ceramics Program, Thousand Islands Museum Craft School, Clayton, New York
    RECENT EXHIBITIONS
    2017
    – The Impermanent Nature of Things: New Work in Clay and Mixed Media, One-Person Exhibition, Iowa Ceramics Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2016
    – John Beckelman, Bede Clarke Candice Methe, Invitational Exhibition, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico
    – The Briar Cliff Review Exhibition, Invitational Group Exhibition, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa
    2015
    – 2015 Biennial Juried Exhibition, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa, Juror: Jane Milosch, Director of the Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative (Award)
    2014
    – John Beckelman : Thirty-Six Years, A Retrospective Exhibition of Work Created at Coe College, Sinclair Galleries, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – 4th ‘Central Time’ Ceramics Exhibition, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois Juror: Don Pilcher
    – Some Assembly Required: Collage and Assemblage, Group Collection Exhibition, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – 35th Anniversary Show, Group Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2013
    – Inspirations, Group Exhibition, The Ceramics Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Yunomi Invitational, Group Exhibition (also 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007), AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
    2012
    – Clay Colleagues, Group Exhibition, Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa
    2011
    – The Shoulders We Stand On, Potter’s Council Exhibition, St. Pete Beach, Florida Juror: Bill Jones, Editor, Pottery Making Illustrated
    – Paintings on Paper and Wood, One-Person Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2010
    – Clay Vessels and Paintings, One-Person Exhibition, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
    – Selected Work, Group Exhibition, CSPS, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Group Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2009
    – Ceramics: New Work, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    – Anniversary Show, Group Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2008
    – New Work in Clay and Paint, Campbell-Steele Gallery, Marion, Iowa
    2007
    – New Work, Five Person Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    – Vessels, Group Exhibition, Santa Fe Clay Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
    – Grand Reopening, Part 1, Group Exhibition, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
    – La Mesa, Group Exhibition (Santa Fe Clay), NCECA Conference, Louisville, Kentucky
    2006
    – LaGrange National XXVIII Biennial Exhibition, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, GA, Juror: Pamela Franks, Curator, Yale University Art Gallery (Merit Award)
    – New Artist Exhibition, One-Person Exhibition, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
    – La Mesa, Group Exhibition (Santa Fe Clay), NCECA Conference, Portland, Oregon
    – 30 x 5, Group Exhibition, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
    2005
    – New Work in Clay, One-Person Exhibition, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – White, Group Exhibition, Santa Fe Clay Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
    – New Work, Three-Person Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2004
    – Small Treasures, Group Exhibition, Lill Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
    – Recent Work, Two-Person Exhibition, Quad Cities Art Center, Rock Island, Illinois
    – Area 319+, Regional Ceramics Exhibition, CSPS Gallery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Ceramics and Painting, Two-Person Exhibition, Gallery 51East, Fairfield, Iowa
    – Winter Group Show, Olson-Larsen Galleries, Des Moines, Iowa
    – Eastern Iowa Ceramics Invitational, Iowa Artisan’s Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
    2003
    – Sculpture, Assemblage & Collage, Group Exhibition Olson-Larsen Galleries, Des Moines, Iowa
    2002
    – Viewpoint Ceramics 2002, Hyde Gallery, Grossmont College, El Cajun, California, Juror: David McFadden, Head Curator, American Crafts Museum
    – Iowa Artists 2002, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, Jurors: Jeff Fleming, Chris Gilbert, Susan Talbott, Amy Worthen
    – LaGrange National XXII Biennial Exhibition, Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia, Juror: Robert Lyon (Merit Award)
    – November Invitational, Group Exhibition, Olson-Larsen Galleries, Des Moines, Iowa
    2001
    – NCECA 2001 Clay National Exhibition, Winthrop College Gallery, Rock Hill, SC, Jurors: Cynthia Bringle, Michael Lucero, James Melchert
    – Recent Works in Clay, One-Person Exhibition, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
    – Area College Faculty, Group Exhibition, Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa
    2000
    – Iowa Artists 2000, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, Juror: Jeff Fleming, Senior Curator, Des Moines Art Center
    – Faculty Exhibition 2000, Sinclair Galleries, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    AWARDS/ COMMISSIONS/ GRANTS
    2016
    – Commission, Works on Paper, for the CRST Corporate Headquarters building, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2015
    – Second Place Prize, 2015 Biennial Juried Exhibition, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa, Juror: Jane Milosch, Director of the Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative
    2006
    – Merit Award, LaGrange National XXVIII Biennial Exhibition, LaGrange, Georgia, Juror: Pamela Franks, Curator, Yale University Art Gallery
    2002
    – Merit Award, LaGrange National XXIV Biennial Exhibition, LaGrange, Georgia, Juror: David McFadden, Head Curator, American Crafts Museum
    1999
    – Permanent Exhibit Commission: Faux Palisades Rock Formation, Cedar Rapids History Center, Linn County Historical Society, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1998
    – Community Service Award: Empty Bowls Project, Linn Community Food Bank, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1997
    – C.J. Lynch Outstanding Teacher Award, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1994
    – Community Service Award, Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, IA
    1992
    – Bronze Block Commission: Five 16”x 16” Bronze plaques inlaid in downtown sidewalk areas; commissioned by the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Arts Council, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1990
    – Private Commission, 200 hand-painted ceramic tile, Santa Fe, New Mexico
    1989
    – Award of Excellence, Clay U.S.A. Exhibition, Radford, Virginia, Jurors: Donna Polseno, Richard Hensley
    – Private Commission, 30 sq. ft. Ceramic Tile Mural, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Permanent Site Commission: Ceramic Tile Mural, Children’s Home of Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1988
    – Certificate of Merit, 1988 International Art Competition, Eastchester, New York, Jurors: Lisa Messinger, Janet Satz, Susie Peifer, Carl Little
    – Permanent Site Commission: Ceramic Tile Mural (2’ x 70’), Friley Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
    1987
    – Faculty Research Grant: Non-Fired Clay Paintings, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Purchase Award, Showcase Exhibition, Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1985
    – Clay Artists: America’s Best, a visual/sound production at the Identité Céramique Conference, Auxerres, France
    – Purchase Award, 14th Annual Invitational Crafts Exhibition, Norfolk, Virginia
    1982
    – Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Summer Study Grant: “The Nature of Glass and Ceramic Materials: Art, Chemistry, Physics”, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    PRESENTATIONS/ PUBLICATIONS/ SERVICE
    2009 Present Board of Directors, The Ceramics Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2013 Jury Panel Member, Cedar Rapids Public Library Sculpture Commission, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2010 13 Fine Arts Advisory Committee, Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2011 Gallery Talk, Olson-Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
    2010 Gallery Talk, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
    2004 On-Site Coordinator, 2004 International Woodfire Conference, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    2001 Gallery Talk: Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
    1999 Workshop: “Teaching The Potter’s Wheel”, Art Educators of Iowa Annual Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1997 Advisory Committee, GTC Plaza Sculpture Commission, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1996 Juror: “Sculpture on 2nd”, Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Competition, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Juror: “Marion Public Library Sculpture Commission”, Marion, Iowa
    1995 Panelist: “The Role of Artists in the Community”, Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1990 – 93 Task Force: “Excellence in Arts Education”, Iowa Department of Education & the Iowa Arts Council, Des Moines, Iowa
    1989 – 93 Instructional Advisory Committee, Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1986 – 89 Fine Arts Curriculum Advisory Committee, Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    1990
    – Exhibition Lecture, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Lecture :”Visual Thinking”, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – Lecture: “Visual Thinking and the Development of Artwork”, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
    – 1986 Keynote Speaker, 4th Annual Symposium on Arts Education: “Visual Thinking”, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    – 1979 Articles, NCECA Newsletter, January Issue, “Stephan De Staebler: Excerpts”, “Transition from School to Studio: Review”
    – 1976 Article: “Electroforming Copper Onto Clay”, Studio Potter Magazine, Summer Issue
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