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Bacia Edelman 1925-2009
CLAYTIMES·COM n NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009
‰ Bacia Stepner Edelman, an extraordinary potter-sculptor, mother, grandmother, and loyal supporter of Clay Times since its inception, died on Sept. 19 at the Hospice Care facility in Madison, Wisconsin. She was 84.
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Bacia’s greatest joy was her claywork, lovingly displayed by Russell Fouts on the Web at http://users. skynet.be/russel.fouts/bacia.htm. Bacia frequently “played with clay” before she was in kindergarten, encouraged by her aunt Sybil Righter, who worked at the Paul Revere pottery in Boston. On Saturday nights all the single female employees (the Saturday Evening Girls) were invited to bring along their nieces and nephews. Bacia, the youngest attendee, fell in love with pottery, a passion that stayed with her until her very last days, when her dear friend Andree Valley helped her finish her final piece, a collaborative work by them both.
During her childhood, Bacia took art classes at the Boston Museum. She later studied on scholarship with Josef Albers at Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina in the summer of 1946. She completed her B.F.A. at Rhode Island School of Design in 1947, attained her M.F.A. at New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University in 1950, and studied in Vienna, Austria at the Akademie Fur Angewandte Kunst. Bacia attended and taught countless workshops and classes throughout the years, the highlight of which was the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) annual conference. Bacia’s art is world-renowned, perhaps most notably her stunning teapots and signature lichen glaze. Her work has appeared in countless juried and invitational exhibitions, and is in permanent collections in the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Everson Museum, Northern Arizona Art Museum, Charles A. Wustum Museum, and numerous corporate and private collections. In the final month of her life, Bacia was notified that one of her pieces was selected for the permanent collection of the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina—Black Mountain College —bringing her career full circle. Bacia’s work was featured in numerous publications including Clay Times, 500 Teapots; 500 Bowls; Ceramics Monthly; and Ceramics, Art, and Perception. One of the very first subscribers to Clay Times when it debuted as a monthly newsletter in 1995, Bacia entered and won the publication’s photo contest that same year with an image of one of her works.
Conferences ‰ GCKW will host the Gulf Coast Clay Conference Feb. 11-13, 2010, featuring John Britt and Bill Clover, with demonstrations by Steve Dark, Jason Stokes, Patrick Bodine, and Anne Haley Webb. The main event will be held at Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola, Florida; the Saturday festival will be at the GCKW Site in Navarre, for the opening of the 32-foot anagama kiln. For complete details, visit the Website at www.gulfcoastkilnwalk.org, call 850.939.7972, or email zehrs@bellsouth.net. ‰ Paperclay Today takes place Jan. 31Feb. 4, 2010, and will feature paperclay workshops, student and artist paperclay exhibits, and an on-site studio/lab. Instuctors: Rosette Gault and Graham Hay. Contact: Linda Saville at 949.499.7446; e-mail linda@ lagunabeachceramics.com; or visit www.lagunabeachceramics.com. ‰ “NCECA 2010: Independence,” the 44th Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) takes place Mar. 31-Apr. 3, 2010, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event will include informative lectures and demonstrations by leading clay artists, as well as a trade show where attendees can view and purchase the industry’s latest goods and services for potters. Area schools, universities, museums, galleries, and non-profit and alternative spaces will host exhibitions of clay objects and tableware, sculpture, and more. For complete details, log onto www. nceca net.