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Bio

Résumé

Statement

Jason Dunn was born in 1978 and grew up in the mountains above Santa Cruz, CA.  After studying ceramics at San Francisco State University he graduated in 2003 along with his future wife, Hue Yang. Jason and Hue lived in Taiwan for a year before moving back to the Bay Area in 2006.  Jason currently teaches ceramics and sculpture at the College of Marin in Kentfield, CA, and ceramics at the ASUC Art Studio on the UC Berkeley campus.

The sculpture I create does not directly reference recognizable objects, yet I hope to envoke some sense of familiarity within the viewer - even if they can’t specify why. I hope to convey a sense of shared experience through the metaphoric attributes of sculptural form. The formal qualities of material, shape and surface are critical to the content of my work, as are the cultural implications of making art objects in today’s world.


Incorporating the marks of the making process is a tactic I often use. Cuts, tears and combing patterns create a rhythm on the surfaces of my vessels and sculpture that directly relate to their overall form. Neatly applied areas of color sometimes contrast with the textural surfaces below and next to them. Often, my work is fired for 8-10 days in a wood-fired kiln which creates a richly layered surface and an interplay with the textured and colored areas of the forms. Wood-firing provides a surface that incorporates the process by which it was created like no other. Beyond formal concerns, I choose this firiring method because it forces me to consider how such a laborious and historically important process can be adapted to contemporary life.


By also working with materials such as wood, plaster, cement, bronze and found objects, I am confronted with similar investigations into how form, material, and objects are seen in a world which, on the surface at least, appears to be becoming more and more virtual. The mystery which can sometimes be evoked from actual objects in physical space is my concern, not because it exists in opposition to our digitized world, but because it will always co-exist with it.


Investigating vessels as sculpture has been undertaken by cultures around the world for millennia. I hope to continue this practice in a contemporary context. I want my work to exist as a record of human interaction with natural materials and culturally developed processes. I think vessels and sculture that references “the void” are significant not only in functional and cultural terms, but also for their metaphoric value.  I return to closed forms and bottle shapes time and again because of the implied mystery created by contained interior space. I believe vessels and sculpture symbolize humans’ complex relationship with both nature and culture and exist as reminders of what everything around us contains.


JASON DUNN

1749 Lefebvre Way, Pinole, CA 94564    (510) 323-5324


jasonthomasdunn@yahoo.com     www.jasonthomasdunn.com


EDUCATION

Master of Arts, Education, Special Interest (Art)

San Francisco State University, 2013


Bachelors of Arts, Fine Art, Ceramics Emphasis

San Francisco State University, 2003


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Fine Arts Instructor 

College of Marin, Kentfield CA. Jan 2013 – Present.


Ceramics Instructor

Associated Students of UC Berkeley Art Studio.  Mar 2013 – Present


Laboratory Technician and Facilities Analyst, Fine Arts Department

College of Marin, Kentfield CA. 2006 – Aug 2013.


EXHIBITIONS

2010

Static Progression: Vessels and Sculpture (one person exhibition)

    College of Marin Fine Arts Gallery, Kentfield, CA

Objects of Virtue, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA

    Juror: Julia Galloway.


2009

Three Oakland Potters, Surface Gallery, Bakersfield, CA

Strictly Functional Pottery National, Market House Craft Center, East Petersburg, PA

    Juror: Pete Pinnell.

California Clay Competition, The Artery, Davis, CA

    Juror: Cathie Duniway. Quyle Kilns Award.


2008

Sixteen Stokers II, Robert Else Gallery, Sacramento State University, CA

Eight Bay Area Potters, Ruby's Clay Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Faculty Show, College of Marin Gallery, Kentfield, CA

Sixteen Stokers, Trax Ceramics Gallery, Berkeley, CA


2007

What is a Cup?, #5 Gallery at the Vulcan, Oakland, CA

It's Only Clay, Bemidji Community Art Center, Bemidji, MN

    Juror: Jeff Oestreich.


2006

Faculty Show, College of Marin Gallery, Kentfield, CA


2003

California Plates, Tierra Solida, Santa Barbara, CA

    Juror: Otto Heino. Second Place Award.

National Juried Cup Show, Gallery 138, Kent State University, Kent, OH

    Juror: Conner Burns.

California Clay Competition, The Artery, Davis, CA

    Juror: Richard Shaw. Association of Clay and Glass Artists Award.

Graduating Senior Show, San Francisco State University, CA


2002

Stillwell Juried Student Exhibition, San Francisco State University Art Gallery, CA

    Best Ceramic Artwork Award.



WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES PRESENTED

2010 Nov 30, With Hue Yang, California College of the Arts

2009 Apr 27, with Megan Mitchell,  Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA

2009 Feb 6, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA

2008 Nov 18, Skyline Community College, San Bruno, CA

2008 Oct 8-9, with Owen Nelson and Tri Tran, Sacramento State University, CA

2008 Mar 1, Laney Community College, Oakland, CA