Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Knoche.
Adam, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My curiosity for making objects and artwork was cultivated by my father and mother. My mother has always been “crafty” and my father is a machinist and inventor. I basically grew up in a machine shop, surrounded by machines humming and buzzing and parts being made from raw materials, such as graphite and steel. I always enjoyed watching the machines he built moving and creating. My father could fix anything and was extremely handy. I believe I got my work ethic and jack-of-all-trades skillset from him. This curiosity and inventive mindset has followed me through my life and influences my artwork.
I started my studies in art at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I studied under Ceramic Professor’s Ted Neal and Vance Bell. Both instructors have been instrumental in my understanding of art and how to be proficient in both sculpture and pottery. After I received my undergraduate degree, I went to work for my father for a year and set up a tiny studio to keep working before applying to Graduate school. During my graduate studies at the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville were some of the toughest times I have every experienced. I was faced with failure after failure of my work and under constant scrutiny from my Graduate Faculty.
During my studies, I was accepted at Strathnairn Art Association in Canberra, Australia. This three-month-long residency really gave me new energy and freedom to pursue my more experimental ideas. During my residency, I visited many art galleries and one of which I was able to view an Aboriginal ossuary (Container for the Dead or bones). This elaborately but primitively decorated vessel housed the pulverized bones of an ancestor of an aboriginal tribe from the region. I was profoundly inspired by this idea of containment and pulverized remains. After completing my graduate studies, I received my first job in art at Greenwich House Pottery in New York City. My experiences in New York were incredible and life-changing. I currently have an active studio career and I teach at Brookhaven Community College in Dallas, Texas.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an artist is tough and not always a smooth road. I had my first child during my graduate studies at the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. This was very tough, I had to work almost full-time and keep up with my studies along with being a new parent. During my time in New York, I had to keep multiple jobs to make sure I made enough money to support a family of four at that time. I still feel that I struggle, I am an Adjunct Professor, Ceramic Technician working fifty hours six days a week. This doesn’t leave much time for family and creating in my studio. I still somehow find time to exhibit my work and create, which I believe is important for my well-being. Although it has been a tough road I wouldn’t change it for anything, I have a supportive partner and two incredible children. My life has been filled with opportunity and love and I couldn’t ask for anything else.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I am an artist and educator. I create artwork that evokes a sense of time, place and experience. My work gives reference to the natural world from a human perspective in the 21st century. My work comes from a place of historic, personal and psychological. I have derived my conceptual ideas from observations in nature and experiences in my life. I believe that experiences can be understood on many levels, particularly the senses and memory.
I create my artwork from pulverizing clays, such as porcelain, stoneware, and terracotta. The pulverized powdered clays are ram-pressed into molds and fired to peak temperatures to ensure a solid object. I then break the forms apart and construct objects using paper-clay and glaze as glue to bind the forms together.
I am drawn to the color, texture, and feel of clay. Clay’s ability to be soft and record marks and movement while also transforming into a hard stone-like material vulnerable to cracks and breakage. I see this way of working as cyclical and returning to the bare essentials of art-making and finding the essence of the material and its structure.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment in my career was being selected to represent the United State of America in the Korean International Ceramic Biennale. I had the pleasure of visiting South Korea in October of 2019 and experiencing the culture, food, and the incredible artwork at the biennale. There were 302 artists selected from 44 different countries around the world. It was an honor and a privilege to have such a high standard of recognition for the artwork that I create.
Contact Info:
- Website: adamknoche.com
- Email: adamknocheceramics@gmail.com
- Instagram: knocheclay
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