Showing posts with label Mel Cornshucker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mel Cornshucker. Show all posts

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Famous Native American Potter at the Institute for American Indian Studies

The contemporary pottery of Melvin C. Cornshucker of Cherokee descent is being featured in the Litchfield Hills at the Institute for American Indian Studies located on 38 Curtis Rd. in Washington CT through the month of March.  Cornshucker is an award winning Cherokee potter, who works in stoneware, porcelain and raku clay. 



Mel's work can be found in collections across the United States, Europe, and Africa, and he has been invited to exhibit at museums in Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, California, Kansas and now Connecticut. Mel also participates in annual juried shows and exhibitions including the Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Eiteljorg Indian Market in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Pueblo Grande Museum Indian Art Show in Phoenix, Arizona, the Contemporary Indian Art Show at Cahokia, Illinois, and many other notable venues.

His work is widely sought in international collections as well as in the United States. His work has been exhibited and sold all over the world from Santa Fe, Arizona to South Africa.

Mel's work is noted for being unique, functional, and aesthetic art pieces that are decorated primarily with Native American motifs.  His signature designs are influenced by the generations of jewelers and weavers in his family. Mel strives to make his stoneware, porcelain and raku clay pieces visually pleasing and functional. It is his desire to create pieces that communicate the Native American spirit both past and present. 

Mel, born in Oklahoma but raised in Missouri, comes from an artistic family. His father was a silversmith, his grandfather a rug weaver and his aunts are basket weavers. While attending law school at Southwest Baptist University, he became interested in a ceramics class. After completing the class, he left school to pursue his new passion of pottery making. Within a few years, he became a master potter. Mel owns and operates a studio in Tulsa,
Oklahoma where he sells his work and teaches the art of pottery.

This Exhibition is in the "Four Directions" Gift Shop of the Institute for American Indian Studies and runs through March 31, 2014. There is no charge for this exhibition.  The museum is open Monday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm Sunday 12 Noon to 5 pm and the last admission 4:30 pm. For more information http://www.iaismuseum.org. For information on the Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com