The ceramic artist Brad Schwiger held a lecture in Upton Hall room 230 presented by SUNY Buffalo State and the Margaret E. Bacon Fund on Feb. 25. Buffalo State students and professors attended the lecture followed by an art exhibit of Schwiger’s pieces of art. Julie Leone, the president of the Coalition for Ceramics Design, introduced Brad Schwiger to the students before he began his lecture about his works and insight on ceramics.

So who is Brad Schwiger? He’s is an associate professor at Ohio University and a ceramic artist. His art is showcased in places such as the Seto Cultural Museum in Seto, Japan and The Red Lodge Clay Center for Young Artists in Montana. Most of his inspiration came from the sites that he saw during his travels. SchwigeHer discussed in his lecture the importance of traveling as a ceramic artist and how it could influence the quality of your art.

Schwiger traveled to many places such as Mashiko in Japan, Romhild in Germany, Spain, Prague in Czech Republic, and Juneau, Alaska. He considers traveling to Romhild, Germany one of his most inspirational experiences. He considers his visit to Mashiko, Japan as his earliest influence where he was inspired by their shino ware (a form of pottery).

During his last travels, Schweiger visited Juneau, Alaska to take his mind off of work. He would take these breaks from his artwork to go on a sabbatical. During his last sabbatical, he finished in Halle, Germany. When Schwiger wasn’t on his sabbaticals, he was busy with a lot of work. Schwiger’s first job was as a professor at a community college in Ohio.

He has also worked hard on some of his work at the University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany. Schwiger worked at a factory in Riga, Lativa, which he talked about how he dreaded it.

“His experience through travel and work, he’s very affirmative in what his work says and how it is finished,” said junior Shelby Schmitt, who attended the lecture.

As a young artist Schwiger discussed how he created different works of a glazed teapot. In a lot of his recent work, he still uses a glaze in his creations. His works of art were very diverse as he produced pottery, shino wear and ceramics which he sketched before he creates his works.

In 1993, Schwiger was interested in creating bigger sculptures and incorporating skeletal structures in his art. During his lecture, he showed images of many works that some of his students and faculty created. One of the people that he showed in this presentation was an artist named Liz Zocher, whose works were inspired by the idea of disease. He then showed an artist named Stephanie Lanter, whose art was inspired by communication where her sculptor was created using a telephone concept.

“I enjoyed how he showed images of current and past work from Ohio University, where he teaches. It was inspiring and motivating, especially as a graduating senior,” said Leone.

Schwiger said his travels inspired him to create more complex art. During his travels, he would be inspired by scenery such as the architecture of buildings in Latvia, structures in Spain, tunnels and the city of Pittsburg, buildings and church structures in the Czech Republic, the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska and different industrial landscapes.

The lecture was an opportunity for Buffalo State students interested in ceramics to get insight from Schwiger on ceramics and art.

“I enjoyed the naturalistic look his pottery takes on as it challenges the angular designs,” Liam Calhoun, a sophomore majoring in ceramics, said.

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