Naperville
Host: Benjamin Buchenot in the backyard of his home and Studio
Influenced by mid-century architecture, Benjamin’s work prioritizes function while highlighting the designs. Utility drives the form, while the patterns act as vessels for memory and physical references. Transformed by fire, the work explores how everyday objects carry and transmit meaning across time.
Bélen’s work focuses on functionality and bold surface decoration, often drawing inspiration from the vibrant colors, textures, and compositions of fruit. She loves creating pieces that invite personal connection, and when someone resonates with an image or memory from her work, it reinforces her passion for what she does.
Nyx Eckmayer is interested in the interplay between sculpture, modeling, and functional ceramic work. They draw inspiration from Dungeons and Dragons, Muppets, working in the haunted house industry, alternative culture, and the American folk-art tradition of face jugs. Nyx’s work has a variety of firing styles and finishes; They strive to make each of my pieces an individual work of art. They do this to emphasize the diversity of individual experiences that make up our society.
Tanvvi is a functional ceramic artist inspired by legacy, process & the transformative power of fire. Trained by some of the best in the ceramic field & deeply drawn to Atmospheric firings. She creates vessels shaped both by discipline & chance. Every piece reflects a balance of utility, individuality & timeless craftsmanship.
Tim AKA "Trash King of Illinois" makes stuff, out of stuff, that looks like other stuff. He lives and works out of his home in Minonk, Illinois, since graduating with his MFA from Illinois State University in 2011. Since then, Tim has been in a steady stream of juried group, invitational, and solo exhibitions.
Neil’s pots are totems of his existence. With the capacity to communicate conceptual meaning and to serve as beautiful objects of utility, pottery not only dances in the notorious territory between art and craft, it embodies the human spirit. He has a profound fascination with the kaleidoscopic histories of pottery and he uses the pot as a foundation upon which to build his ideas and inspirations. Just as ancient makers deified and worshiped the natural world around them through abstraction and symbolism in objects, Neil translates his own reality using the pottery form to reflect on my experiences and influences creating an outlet to express the beauty and absurdity that is life.