Artist
Maren Kloppmann Ceramics

Biography
Maren Kloppmann is a ceramic sculptor residing in Minneapolis MN, where she operates her own studio and gallery.
Working exclusively with porcelain, her wall installations and vessels draw inspiration from modernist architecture and archetypes existing as patterns in nature. Ms. Kloppmann combines traditional ceramic techniques with concepts relating to minimalism and modernism with the intent “to create visual confluence between control and serendipity, a moment where qualities of architecture and archetype intersect”.
A three-time McKnight Fellow, her awards include a Jerome Fellowship and five Minnesota State Arts Board grants. Her work is in numerous private and museum collections including the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Weisman Art Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Credited with an extensive record of exhibitions, her work was most recently featured at Hostler Burrows (New York City NY), Harvey Meadows Gallery (Aspen CO) and in the 2014 MN Biennial at the Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Born (1962) and raised in Germany, Ms. Kloppmann completed a journeyman degree for production pottery (1984) in her native country and came to the US that same year to advance her studies in ceramics. After completing artist-in-residencies in North Carolina and Michigan, she received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute (1993) and her MFA from the University of Minnesota (1996).
Her former positions include director of exhibitions at Northern Clay Center (1996-2000), adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (1998), adjunct faculty at the University of Wisconsin River Falls (1999-2002) and mentor in the MFA visual arts program at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (2002-2004).
Artist Statement
Using pillow-like shapes and panels, I create wall and vessel sculptures made of porcelain. Two premises inform my ceramic artwork: archetypes that exist as patterns and shapes in nature, and architecture, which identifies our spaces of existence and interaction. My objective is to balance a visual dialogue between the qualities of man-made structures and those found in nature. In my aesthetics I relate to Modernism by accentuating essential visual elements and to Minimalism by augmenting formal simplicity with modular repetition. I aspire to link process to concept and construct all pieces individually to imbue precision with the subtleties of the hand. By utilizing drape and slump molds I shape porcelain slabs before assembling forms with leather hard components. A limited palette of colors and textures provides my perimeter for a reductive vocabulary to emphasize volumes and edges. Using a method of prolonged cooling in electric kilns, my glazes are designed to express the alchemy of fire-induced surfaces. My intention is to articulate synchronicity between organic imperfections and deliberate formality in shape and surface. This moment of confluence, when serendipity and control merge becomes the threshold where archetype and architecture intersect.