The Maine Crafts Association has named ceramic artist, author and arts educator Tim Christensen as a recipient of the 2023 Maine Craft Artist Award. The award recognizes Christensen’s accomplishments as a full-time ceramic artist whose work is distinctly recognized for its singular voice and style.
Since 2009 the Maine Crafts Association began to annually honor individual Maine craft artists in recognition of their exceptional bodies of work and contributions to the field. The award grants acknowledgment of the artist’s work, a distinguishing mark of excellence.
The award’s juror is guided by these benchmarks: excellence in craftsmanship, inspired design, a singular voice or style, and a career of service to the field. The 2023 awards were selected from many deserving peer nominations by author and champion of Maine artists, Carl Little.
“Watching a video showing Christensen etching a stoneware Atlantic halibut or throwing a wide bowl using a kick wheel is to be amazed by his deft hand,” Little says. “His wood-fired porcelain pieces with sgraffito are uniformly brilliant, be it an elaborate octopus sculpture or a pictorial plate. Sgraffito comes from the Italian “to scratch,” which hardly does justice to Christensen’s intricate designs. Yes, he scratches the surface, but that’s only one piece of his virtuoso practice.”
Christensen is known for his anomalous use of sgraffito on porcelain creating both functional pottery and decorative sculptures. Black and white, and fired in salt and woodfired kilns, his work is simultaneously intricate while taking on “happy accidents” from the firing process.
The artist depicts ecosystems and their lively players, interconnecting with one another. His work is informed by his surroundings at his off-the-grid home studio and his extensive travels. His cast of schooling trout, chickadees, and patterned squids dance against their environments creating playful imagery out of the clay surface. His pictorial etchings wrap the surfaces of yunomi cups, animal sculptures, tiles and hand-thrown forms.
His work has been included in many group and solo exhibitions across the United States and beyond. In addition to his years of building a well-recognized personal style, Christensen is known for his dedication to providing arts education to local Maine communities. His long-time association with Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, the Maine Crafts Association, and several schools, Christensen has developed endless workshops and courses to further the longevity of ceramics here in Maine. He has developed curriculum for and taught for years in both public and private schools bringing the importance of the arts to a future generation.
On behalf of the MCA, Little has also selected metalsmith and arts administrator Ellen Wieske of Deer Isle as a 2023 Maine Craft Artist Award recipient.
Both Wieske and Christensen will be honored at the annual awards presentation and ceremony to be held in December. The public is welcome to join in celebrating the lives and careers of the awardees whose work has positively impacted Maine’s most cherished craft community. Details of the presentation and event registration will be announced at a later date.
Dowling Walsh Gallery Opens 2026 Season with Solo Exhibitions by Artists Lauren Fensterstock and Jacob Bond Hessler
Sidle House Gallery in Freeport opens its 2026 season with “Anne Hebebrand: A World That Is,” a solo exhibition of cold-wax and oil paintings on view May 1 through June 13. An opening reception is May 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition draws from seven years of Hebebrand’s work, which she describes as […]
Waterfall Arts in Belfast is showing “Make Your Mark,” an immersive, community-driven exhibition in the Clifford Gallery through May 29. The opening reception was held April 18. Conceived by program director Amy Tingle, the show draws inspiration from street art and the call-and-response nature of public creative expression. The exhibition features participatory installations including doodle […]
Centre Street Arts Gallery in Bath will hold its spring reception May 15 from 5 to 7 p.m., featuring work by the gallery’s 22 member artists. Centre Street Arts Gallery is at 11 Centre St., Bath. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Email centrestartsgalleryllc@gmail.com or call 207-442-0300 for more information.
Artemis Gallery in Northeast Harbor opens its 15th season with a group exhibition and reception on May 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. The show features work in stone sculpture by Obadiah Buell, woodblock print by Nicole Herz, oil paintings by Liddy Hubbell and David LaPalombara, photography by Parker Stewart and bronze sculpture by Rebekah […]
The Kittery Art Association, in collaboration with the York Public Library, presents “Eleven Views from Here,” on view May 2 through June 30 at the York Public Library, 15 Long Sands Road, York. An opening reception is May 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition features selected works by 11 KAA artists representing the […]
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland will open “By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth” with a public reception on May 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. The exhibition runs May 2 through Oct. 16 in the Hadlock and Wyeth Study Center Galleries, with additional programming in the Wyeth Center from June 13 through […]
Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland is showing “5AM in the Pinewoods,” a solo exhibition of paintings by Joanna Logue, through May 9. Logue, a native of Australia who has lived on Mount Desert Island since 2017, takes inspiration from daily hikes in Acadia National Park near her home in Somesville. The changing colors of the […]
The Maine Crafts Association will present STITCH: Runway Show + Style Market on June 4 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Maine Studio Works, 170 Anderson St., Portland. The annual fundraising event celebrates Maine’s slow fashion designers, textile artists and makers. Six Maine-based designers will present original handcrafted wearable work in a live runway show […]
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