Christopher Greenman

Christopher Greenman Artist Bio

Dr. Christopher Greenman has been claying for twenty-two years. He learned in the Leach/Japanese tradition at Pennsylvania State University under the tutelage of master potter Ken Beittel, who authored Zen and the Art of Pottery.

Dr. Greenman seeks inspiration from aesthetics of Japanese pottery and seeks to find his place in what Beittel called the "Great Tradition of pottery". He delights in creating forms that allow a viewer or use to reconnect with the world of nature. Dr. Greenman received his doctorate in Art Education from penn State in 1990. Since then he has worked in various museums and galleries. For the last nine years, he has taught ceramics, art education, art history, art theory and art appreciation at Alabama State University in Montgomery. His work can be seen in national, regional, and local shows.

Each piece is unique in design and is embraced as "one of a kind" functional stoneware. The glazes used are functional and safe for everyday use.

Christopher Greenman Artist Statement

I teach art at an HBCU (Historic Black College or University). I began my journey in pottery learning under Ken Beittel, author of "Zen and the Art of Pottery." I am trying to find my way in the "Great Tradition" of pottery which reflects the world traditions of pottery. I find great inspiration from the pottery and sculptural ceramic forms that come from the East - Japan, China and Korea. I also look at the Japanese/English Mengie tradition of "folk pottery" - simple, unadorned forms made for use, made with a knowledge of trying to reconnect the user with the outside world of nature.

I try to make work in which "a certain love of roughness is involved, behind which lurks a hidden beauty, to which we refer in our peculiar adjectives shibui, wabi, and sabi. It is this beauty with inner implications that is referred to as shibui. It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator [rather it is] a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for themselves. The world may abound with different aspects of beauty. Each person, according to his disposition and environment, will feel a special affinity to one or another aspect. But when their taste grows more refined, they will necessarily arrive at the beauty that is shibui. "The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty," Soetsu Yanagi, Bernard Leach.

This for me is the path to see and to realize the "Great Tradition."

I try and balance my life between teaching, potting, seeing, listening, and experiencing life as much as possible.