the potter ::

Kansas artist, Susan Speck, has been hand-building her unusual porcelain vessels since 2002.  Susan’s pots run the gamut from mysterious, eerie and whimsical to tranquil and elegant.  She creates each pot as a one-of-a-kind piece although they may be part of a series of 10 to 20.

All of Susan’s porcelain pots are created in her backyard studio (she built herself) in Mission, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. She shares her unique Arts & Crafts-style home with her daughter Fiona, her Scottish puppy dog Duncan and the wild chipmunk, Chippy.

Susan comes from a family of artists and studied Art Education at the University of Missouri.  She currently teaches art in the Kansas City area, but in the summer she and her wares can be found at art fairs in the midwest and exhibits in the US and abroad.

When she is not making her fanciful pots, Susan might be found playing the bagpipes in the local pipe band, doing ‘minimalist’ gardening, working on her house, rowing skulls and traveling the globe.

resume ::

education ::

BS in Education, University of Missouri, 1976

MS in Education, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001

employment ::

Visual Art teacher, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, 32 years

Ceramics Instructor, Longview Community Cellege, Lee's Summit, Missouri

shows and exhibits ::

2010

Laumeier Art Fair, St. Louis, Missouri

Prairie Village Art Fair, Prairie Village, Kansas

KC Clay Guild Teabowl National, KCMO 

Smoky Hill River Festival, Salina, Kansas

Cherry Creek Art Fair, Denver, Colorado

Loring Park Art Fair, Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Art Westport, KCMO

Orton International ConeBox Show, Lawrence, Kansas...award winner

2009

Art Faculty Biennial, Longview Community College, Lees' Summit, Missouri 

Laumeier Art Fair, St. Louis, Missouri, Award of Excellence

Art in the Park, Marion, Iowa

Smoky HIll River Festival, Salina, Kansas, Purchase Award

2008

Infusion 10 x10, 11th Biennial Teapot Exhibition, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, Missouri www.craftalliance.org/exhibits/infusion/infusion1.html

Da Yu Xiao Hu: International Small Teapot competition 3, Saddleback College , Mission Viejo, California gallery.saddleback.edu/shows/25FEB08/virtualshow/                     

Mad Hatters Tea Party, Florida

Orton International Cone Box Show, Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas, NCECA & worldwide

Smoky Hill River Festival, Salina Kansas

Uptown Art Fair, MInneapolis, Minnesota                                          

www.uptownminneapolis.com/artists/album25?page=4

Historic Shaw Art Fair, St. Louis, Missouri

2007

current work: Susan Speck, solo show, KC Clay Guild, KCMO

Silent Conversations, Craft Alliance , St. Louis, Missouri

By the Ounce, NCECA, Louisville, Kentucky

Solo show, Lenexa City Hall , Lenexa, Kansas

Strictly Functional, market house craft center, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Solo show, "From Traditions", Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg, Kansas

Art Westport, KCMO

KCAC Open Studios, KCMO

2006

Da Yu Xiao Hu: International Small Teapot Competition 2, Saddleback College , Mission Viejo, California

First Biennial Concordia Continental Ceramics Competition, Concordia University , St. Paul, Minnesota

Feats of Clay, Lincoln Arts, Lincoln, California

Prairie VillageArtFair, Prairie Village, Kansas

Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art Fair, Salina, Kansas

Art Westport, KCMO

Pleasures: Teapots, Strecker-Nelson Gallery, Manhattan, Kansas

2005

1st Annual Florida Teapot Show, In Bloom Gallery, Ft. Myers, Florida

16^th Annual Teapot Show: On the Road Again, Chiaroscuro Galleries, Chicago, Illinois

Smoky Hill Regional Exhibit, Hays State University, Hays, Kansas

Prairie VillageArtFair , Prairie Village, Kansas

Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art Fair, Salina, Kansas

Fountain Square ArtFestival , Evanston, Illinois

Guess who’s Coming To Dinner, invitational dinnerware show, KCCG, KCMO

Art Westport, KCMO

KC Clay Guild group show, Waldo Library,  KCMO

Bridge Gallery, Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie, Village, Kansas

2004

100 Teapots 2, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, Maryland

Potter to Potter, the Club Mud National Juried Show, Maude Kerns Art Center , Eugene, Oregon 

Vitrified Clay National, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, Texas

Solo Show, West Wyandotte Library, Kansas City, Kansas

Gigantic: Ceramic Figurines, Kirkland Arts Center,Kirkland, Wash.

Da Yu Xiao Hu: International Small Teapot Competition, 2nd place, -Saddleback College , Mission Viejo , Ca.

Prairie Village Art Fair,  Prairie Village, Kansas

Art Westport,  KCMO

Plaza Art Fair,  KCMO

Open Studios, KC Artists Coalition tour of artists, KCMO

Funk-tion National, Stretch Gallery, Pineville, North Carolina

2003

Brookside Art Annual , KCMO

Smoky Hill Exhibit, Fort Hays State University , Hays, Kansas , cash award, “Bone Daddy and Mama”

Founders Show, KC Clay Guild, KCMO

Teapots to Still Lives, Spring Street Gallery, Galena, Illinois

Art Westport, KCMO

Hair of the Dog, featured artist, Eclectics Gallery, KCMO

Images Gallery, January featured artist, KCMO

La Petite XI, National Small Works Exhibit, Alder Art Gallery, Coberg, Oregon

Bones and Flowers, solo show, KC Clay Guild, KCMO

2002 to present

KCClay Guild Holiday Tour, KCMO

2002

Orton International Cone Box Show, Baker University , Baldwin City, KCClay Guild Members Show,  KCMO

Funk to Functional Teapot Show, KC Clay Guild, KCMO, 2nd place "funk"

1988- 2002

Founding member, KC Clay Guild (KCCG), logo designer

1977-present- Kansas City,  Kansas Art faculty exhibit

1977, 80’s

Santa–Cali-Gon Days Festival, Independence, Missouri

Sedalia Maple Leaf Festival,  Sedalia, Missouri

Tri Delta Art Auction, 1^st place amateur category

Art Westport,  Kansas City, Missouri

collections ::

Birger Sanzen Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg, Kansas 

Workshop Gallery, KC Clay GUild,  KCMO

workshops ::

2005- February-“When You Don’t Have the Proper Clay Equipment…Making Do”, Bracker’s Good Earth Clays, Lawrence, Kansas

2004- April-Hand building, Harmon High School, Kansas City, Kansas

2004- April- Handle workshop, KC Clay Guild, KCMO

currently represented by ::

Ecelctics Gallery, KCMO http://oureclecticlives.blogspot.com/

Swanson-Reed Contemporary, Louisville, Kentucky http://www.swansonreedgallery.com/

bibliography ::

REview Magazine, KCMO, http://ereview.org/2010/05/01/where-fun-meets-funk-tion-susan-speck/  by Steve Brisendine

Columbia Flier, Baltimore, Maryland, January 29, 2004 , photo, “Clayworks Tempestuous Return to Teapots”, Mike Guiliano

Review Magazine, KCMO, September, 2004

Kansas City Star, KCMO, September 22, 2004

Kansas City Star, article in “House and Home”, KCMO, August 14, 2005

professional ::

1988 to present-founding and continuing member, KC Clay Guild, (logo designer), board member, workshop chairman (2005 to present), current Chairman, 2003-to present- member of Potters Council, Kansas City Artists Coalition, NCECA

1976- present-visual arts instructor, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools

beginning Fall, 2008- Ceramics instructor, Longview Community College

awards ::

2009- Award of Excellence, Laumeier Art Fair, St. Louis, Missouri

        - Purchase award, Smoky HIll River Festival, Salina, Kansas

2008- Top 10%, Ceramics category,  Uptown Art Fair

2004- 2nd place, Da Yu Xiao Hu: International Small Teapot Competition, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, Ca.

2002- 2^nd place “funk”, Funk to Functional, KC Clay Guild

collections ::

Birger Sandzen Memorial Galley, Lindsborg, Kansas

Diane Calhoun-French, Louisville, Kentucky

1988