Casey Beck
Casey Beck
Beck is currently a first year MFA candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he is studying ceramics. He makes pottery utilizing atmospheric firing techniques that encourage a dialogue between maker, material and user. After completion of his BFA in ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2019, Beck spent two years living and working in Minnesota where he worked as a studio potter, worked in the Sales Gallery at Northern Clay Center (NCC) and taught classes. Beck has been a resident artist at the Cub Creek Foundation in rural Virginia and was awarded the 2020 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant through NCC.
Pottery not only fills the home by its physical presence but also in a way that good company does. It holds a sense of community and connection and can also be a facilitator of this through shared use with others. It enriches the everyday by bringing the essence of the maker and its history of process and previous use to each time it is used. Living with and using pottery every day, I am able to slow down to consider what essence and history I want to bring into my day. I find that over time, these pots that I use day after day, evolve with new meaning and are recognized through certain feelings, seasons, or events. For this reason, I make pottery. I enjoy having these special moments as both a maker and user of pottery and hope to share this experience with others through thoughtful means of making. I aim to make pottery that will serve as a utilitarian day to day tool but can also be found through specific context becoming ceremonial in a way.
