Perry Haas

Long-Term Resident Artist, 2015-2017
Hometown: Geneva, Illinois

Perry Haas is a ceramic artist making functional pottery and focusing (almost) exclusively on wood-firing techniques. Drawing from a love for the wood-fired ceramic surface—which he likens to the way wind gathers and deposits leaves on a landscape—Perry looks to anticipate the manner in which ash in the kiln will collect in different arrays across the convex and concave surfaces of his gestural clay forms. His goal in making pots is to create a place where these surfaces can exist and be enjoyed as a part of a person’s daily life.

Perry Haas grew up in Geneva, Illinois, and has been working in ceramics since 2003. He received his BFA in ceramics from Utah State University in 2011 and shortly after moved to Missoula, Montana, for a residency at the Clay Studio of Missoula. He has been a resident at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana and most recently at Guldafergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark before joining the Bray as the 2015–2016 MJD Fellow. Perry is currently the 2016–2017 Lilian Fellow.

“I approach making with a childlike spirit of experimentation and exploration. My work stems from a love of the wood fired ceramic surface, particularly how it evokes many beautiful natural phenomena. Like imagining the way wind gathers and deposits leaves on a landscape according to changes in topography, I anticipate the manner in which ash will collect differently on the convex and concave surfaces of my gestural forms. These functional pots are developed as a place for this surface to exist and to be enjoyed as a part of our daily life.”—Haas

To see more work by Perry visit his website at perryhaasceramics.com.