Mike Stumbras

Bio

Stumbras was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at St. Olaf College, where he received a BFA in studio art and a BS in biology in 2007. He has completed residencies across the country. Stumbras received an MFA in Ceramics from Louisiana State University in 2017. Formerly a visiting assistant professor at the College of William and Mary and a Lecturer at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Stumbras has exhibited work nationally and internationally. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois

artist statement

“My work explores the beauty and horror of our existential uncertainties as creatures seeking meaning through labor and investigations of history. These wheel thrown, and cone 10 reduction fired vessels combine inspirations from historical production ceramics with contemporary studio art practices. 

I am interested in 18th and 19th century European and American slipcast ware. Although much of the work I am inspired by involves the use of commercial production techniques, my pieces are created with the immediacy and individuality attributed to hand processes. I believe that the historical work that informs my practice, however, presents a criterion for beauty that seems quite empty in regards to contemporary considerations about labor and existence.

I place an emphasis on making ceremonial pieces that speak to the passage of time and embrace the propensity for ceramic vessels to be heirloom objects. The work suggests that it bears witness to the ebb and flow of civilizations, of ideas, and of people. As vessels that exist through time as humans cannot hope to, these pots whisper to us to confront the knowledge we share of our progression toward inevitable demise and our march into obscurity. It is both a liberating comfort and a savage terror that the dead cannot return, except in stories and dreams.”