Neil Celani

Bio

Neil is a Nebraska chic potter homesteading in Lincoln where he is building out a home studio in a detached garage. He is currently an Artist in Residence at the LUX Center for the Arts where he teaches community classes and makes pots to express his anxious soul. Neil received his undergraduate degree from University of Northern Colorado in 2007 and an MFA from University of Nebraska Lincoln in 2020. In 2016, Neil had the honor of being selected as a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist and he is definitely still emerging. When out of the studio Neil likes to make pizza for his wife and flip on the disco ball to listen to records with their dog, Reggie.

Artist Statement

My pots are totems of my existence. With the capacity to communicate conceptual meaning and to serve as objects of utility, pottery not only dances in the notorious territory between art and craft, it embodies the human spirit.

I use references and symbols adopted from the Simpsons to articulate and express my experiences in pottery form. Pottery is a universally understood language and I would argue that in the modern world, so too are the Simpsons. By abstracting elements of the Simpsons as symbols, I draw parallels between contemporary American culture and ancient civilizations, a playful mashup that acknowledges the paradox of making permanent objects of such transitory pop-culture idols.

I have a profound fascination with the kaleidoscopic histories of pottery and I use the pot as a foundation upon which to build my ideas and inspirations. Just as ancient makers deified and worshiped the natural world around them through abstraction and symbolism in objects, I translate my own reality using the pottery form to reflect on my experiences and creative influences. This work gives me an outlet to express the beauty and absurdity that is life.

Exhibitions