Liam McSteen
Bio
Liam McSteen is a ceramic artist and art historian and an alumni of Ohio University in Athens, OH. An Athens native, he has been surrounded by clay and ceramic works his entire life. His interest in functional pottery stems from his deep connection to ideas of the home and sense of belonging in place, which he was often drawn to think about in his studies of art and history in his hometown. The Ohio Valley region has a rich history of ceramic production and clay mounds which have always come as an inspiration to Liam. He graduated from Ohio University with two degrees from the Honors Tutorial College in the Spring of 2023 and now resides in Western New York, where he is employed at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. Liam’s work has been selected for showing regionally at Juried Exhibitions hosted by Ohio University juried by Matt Wedel and Noah Reidel, Juried National Shows hosted by the Majestic Gallery in Nelsonville, OH, at Watermark Gallery in Bemidji, MN, and Liam was recently selected as an Emerging Artist by the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus.
Statement
My work addresses sense of belonging in domestic space. When someone holds a vessel that I have made, I want them to feel a sense of familiarity, of comfort. As a ceramic artist, I am interested in the traditions which have been passed down, the lineages which inform our lives and practices as contemporary artists. Therefore, an informative part of my process as a maker has been my research as an art historian. In my research I studied the effects of clay on industry and material culture in my home, the Ohio Valley.
I am greatly influenced by the writing of David Pye, and the importance of diversity in handwork. My work is therefore exploratory in nature, focusing on the subtle diversities of form and surface caused by the workmanship of risk. Each kiln unload returns new results, and the atmospheric firing process marks each pot differently. When firing in atmospheric kilns, although I can set myself up for moments of success, I must relinquish some control to the will of the flame. My work explores surface and form to spark a dialogue between the making process and environment in which the pot will exist.