Paul Maloney

Bio

Paul Maloney is a visual artist born in Houston, Texas. He attended the University of Georgia, completing his Bachelor degrees in both Art History and Ceramics. He later would attain his MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University - Bloomington. Paul has made work all throughout the United States, having opportunities at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio, Penland School of Crafts, The Bascom: A Center for Visual Arts, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. He now resides in Kansas City, Missouri where he has been appointed to the position of Studio Manager and Residency Head at Belger Crane Yards Studio. Paul’s work is presently carried locally around Kansas City, New York, Los Angeles and abroad.

Artist Statement

I am a vessel maker. The vessel is my structure, my canvas - an empty page waiting to be filled. A field recorder of sorts, I synthesize my daily experiences through written word on anthropomorphized pots.These stories range from the mundane to the unworldly, from punk rock dive bars to a 10th century castle - anything and everything has a story that I feel the need/duty to share with future humans. 

I dress my pieces like sauce on BBQ. The sauce sets the backdrop for the staged piece. After this the rorschach test begins. Do I address daily fears of how to maneuver an international pandemic? Or discuss my father’s 10 year battle with Alzheimer’s? What about that time the sandwich at the bodega made me hurl? The decisions of how to capture the essence of occurrences begin to flow naturally with a freestyle like response - both formally and written. Each individual piece becomes a memento of the daily grind - recorded with no filter. All cloud. Whether I work intimately with a cup, transition to a larger coil vessel or throw 100 plates, the end result for each work is always the same. Momentary reflections conveyed through pottery that gives a snippet of humanness, both told and inferred.

Exhibitions