Crystal Cup

Brett Freund

porcelain, glaze

4 1/2" Diameter x 3 1/2" H

This cup is truly outrageous! Covered in sculpted gems, this piece by Brett Freund is dazzling in peach tones, greens, and teals. Perfect for tea or as a curio for your collection. Freund is well known for his over the top depictions of glossy gemstones projecting from his functional vessels. In a world of beautiful pottery, Freund's work is unmistakable and dynamic.

Artist's Biography

Brett Freund earned his MFA from Southern Illinois University in 2011 after completing a residency at St. Petersburg Clay Company, in Florida. Following his education, he was a Lormina Salter Fellow at Baltimore Clayworks and in 2012 was named an Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly. He has since relocated to Minneapolis, where he maintains a studio and is a teaching artist at Northern Clay Center, where he received a 2015 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant and a 2018 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists. Freund's work starts with prototypes designed from hand building, wheel throwing, and 3D printed clay. He uses these components to make new combinations and discoveries as he intuitively pieces together slip cast parts. Though attracted to techniques associated with the industrial process and mass repetition, each piece he makes is arranged so that no piece is ever exactly the same as another, putting a filter between the material and himself.

Artist's Statement

When working I think about my own definitions of preciousness and value. How does an object qualify itself as being important? Is what I'm after rare like a diamond, does it take time to grow like a crystal or is it a symbol that references a status or identity? Most importantly, how can I scrutinize hierarchies without undermining the possibility of growing in my craft?

Donated by Marsha Gold

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