Steve Jorgenson: Biography

After many years of visits to Door County, Steve Jorgenson is pleased to bring his sculptural objects and functional pottery to Sister Bay's "Frykman Studio Gallery."

Originally from Seattle, Steve has made his name is Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for thirty years where he has maintained his pottery and sculpture studio and been a member of "The Stoneware Gallery," a co-op of twelve potters.

A B.A. in art was earned at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota studying pottery with Eugene Johnson and sculpture with Stewart Luckman. A teaching certificate in Art Education was completed at Seattle Pacific University. Various jobs including substitute teacher, construction worker, carpenter, and drug and art counselor filled the time prior to moving to Canada to work full time as an artist.

Initial interest in pottery began in an eighth grade ceramics class, and continued to develop through college pottery courses and then while substitute teaching art classes. Some very early design motifs from junior high have subsequently reappeared in his pottery and continue to develop and mature. Current daily studio work includes throwing stoneware clay, painting multiple clay slip colors on the wet pots, and then carving incised designs into the leather hard clay. Pots are glazed in glossy and matte glazes which allows carved designs and slip colors to show through. Glaze firing is done in a gas fired kiln.

"I enjoy the rhythms of the production cycle of making pottery, the repetition of the thrown forms, always striving for that perfect shape or curve, trimming and drawing designs on pots, followed by glazing, firing and anticipating what surprises will appear when the kiln is unloaded. In these endlessly repeated cycles one is always learning, changing and growing creatively."

"Creating sculptural objects has been a part of my life since I was young. Growing up in a family involved in the construction business and surrounded by woodworking tools and unlimited materials, I absorbed my carpentry skills from my father and was using all the major tools to construct all sorts of 3-dimensional objects from very early on."

Now sculptures evolve in a studio filled with random cluttered piles of materials, picture frame mouldings, and interesting odd bits of pieces of wood waiting to stimulate and be transformed into relief sculptures or free standing pieces. Most materials are regularly scavenged from friends, frame shops, my family's fire wood piles and cabinet shop remnant materials. The sculptures begin their growth and develop from some stimulating wood shape or from hand-made tile. Each piece remains unique due to a continually changing inventory of materials.

"Inspiration for my sculptures has always come from either the human form, or massive landscape shapes and the ways in which these forms interact. Playing with the relationships between shapes and forms has always been meaningful to me."

"I take great pleasure in creating beautiful objects from such basic materials as clay and wood, and it is always rewarding to see these objects out into the world to enhance lives."