Zach Wollert

Bio

Zach Wollert is the Assistant Director of the Windgate Art School at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.  Zach grew up in Portland, Oregon, and has worked in clay for 25 years.  He turned his obsessive interest in ceramic art into a career while working with professional ceramists in the coastal mountain range town of Elkton, Oregon.  In 2015, he earned his Master’s of Fine Art from Kent State University and participated in artist residencies in Oregon and California.  Before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, Zach was the Assistant Professor of Ceramics/3D Art at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

Artist Statement

Curiosity is how I approach the planning and making of my artistic work.  Curious of materials, effects, processes, and “what if…?” moments.  As curiosity led me through learning traditional ceramic making methods, curiosity has brought me towards integrating digital technologies and printmaking processes with hands-on ceramic methodologies.  Digitally designing and 3D printing unique tools for shaping clay, hand carving stamps, and 3D printing clay forms from digital drawings are recent examples of finished work.  I am fixated on how digital technology and the printmaking process of lino block carving influence outcomes of my ceramic work as well as my approach through the design process.  Working backwards from a desired outcome; I am guided by the limits of how hand-made processes direct digital proportions, how digital technology controls the physical material, and how applications of interdisciplinary processes can be applied to ceramic art making.  

In addition to my artistic research and making, curiosity is the driving force of the instructional lessons that I create and organize.  I am curious of how to engage students by teaching concepts that are open to individual interpretation and how to successfully instruct interdisciplinary making methods within the classroom.  My curiosity as a teacher has led to researching and developing projects for students that meld techniques of ceramic slab building and lino block carving, digital photography and ceramic decal printing, as well as digital arts and 3D printing.  

Ultimately, I envision curiosity as an exciting research catalyst in both areas of making artwork and developing classroom curricula.

Exhibitions