Steven Heinemann
Since completing his MFA (Alfred University, 1983), Heinemann has taught widely through teaching appointments across Canada, and numerous workshops in North America, Japan, Korea, and China. Residencies include Canada (Banff Centre), USA (Cranbrook Academy of Art), Holland (EKWC), Hungary (ICS), and Korea (Jinro). Since his first solo exhibition at the Ontario Crafts Council in 1982 (Toronto), he has continuously exhibited both nationally and abroad. International collections include the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Museum of Fine art (Boston), National Museum of History (Taiwan), Museum of Art and Design (New York), Museum Boymans van Beuningen (Rotterdam), and the Contemporary Museum (Honolulu). Awards include the Bavarian State Prize (Germany), Jurors Award (Mino, Japan), Fletcher Challenge (New Zealand), and the Saidye Bronfman Award (Canada).
Artist Statement
Why ceramics? I have come to recognize that clay (an organic material with a long history of human use) can offer a substantial link to both the natural and cultural worlds, to historical as well as geological time. So to me, the physical facts of soft/hard, surface/form and inside/outside suggest diverse opportunities for considering relationships among the seemingly disparate. Connections emerge, linking human activity and natural processes, deliberation and chance, past and present, and what is seen with what is sensed.
