Distinguished Craft Artists:
Richard Notkin
Richard Notkin is a full-time studio artist in Helena, Montana. Notkin’s teapots, ceramic sculptures and tile murals are visual explorations into social and political commentary. He received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1970, and an MFA from the University of California, Davis in 1973. Richard has worked mainly in ceramics for over thirty-nine years, averaging over one solo exhibition per year. His series of Yixing (China) inspired teapots and ceramic sculptures have been exhibited internationally and are in numerous public and private collections. He has held visiting artist positions and conducted over 250 workshops throughout the world. Among his awards, Richard has received three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. Most recently he was the recipient of a $50,000 un restricted grant from United States Artists, a national artists' advocacy organization.
Two pieces by Notkin are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum/Renwick Gallery, a teapot currently on display at the Luce Center, and a wall composition.
In January 2009 Notkin was an honored guest as part of the JRA's Distinguished Artist Series. He conducted a workshop at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, in which he demonstrated the techniques he uses to develop his pieces, with an emphasis on mold-making.
He also presented an illustrated lecture at the Renwick Gallery entitled "Art and War" in which he discussed his lifelong commitment to speaking through his work on the state of the world, and what it means to him to be an artist in our current global situation.