Connie Norman • Bio
"All my life I have struggled with writing, now my work is completely covered in text. The text works on several levels for me. It acts as texture, pattern, and a glimpse into my private thoughts."
Connie Norman is a ceramic artist and teacher. She currently teaches in Wyoming. Connie has taught at Anderson Ranch Art Center, Carbondale Clay Center, University of Wyoming and at Carey Jr. High in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Connie was born in Japan, and raised all over the world. She is a graduate of the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and concentrated in ceramics and ceramics sculpture. She has also studied ceramics in Tokoname, Japan. Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly. In December of 2004 she was on the cover of Ceramics Monthly.
Connie creates ceramic work that is about inner dialogue--stories from her life, snippets of conversation, and memories that she imagines over and over. She is fascinated by the rhythmic qualities created by color, texture, and patterns. Decoration (and the art of decorating) is essential because it celebrates and enhances form and speaks purely of aesthetics.
Norman constructs each piece with a combination of handbuilt techniques, including slab building, coiling, and press and slump molding. She then uses old pieces of movable type and individually presses each letter into the clay.
Selected Exhibitions & Awards
Wyoming Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship, 2005
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Fellowship, 2002
Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, CO, 2007
NCECA, Solo Show, Studio 2507, Portland, OR, 2006
Strictly Functional Pottery National 2004, Lancaster, PA, 2004
Ceramics USA 2003, University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton, TX, 2003
Origins in Clay 3, Ingram, TX, 2003
Fifteenth San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo, Museum of Fine Arts, 2004