About the Artist

Suzanne Stumpf has received national recognition for both her sculptural and functional ceramic creations. Her Interactive Sculpture No. 9 is included in the 2009 Lark Books publication 500 Ceramic Sculptures: Contemporary Practice, Singular Works. Her work was featured in the May 2005 issue of Ceramics Monthly magazine, where she was named one of nine 2005 Emerging Artists, and in 2008, she was awarded an Artist Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council (MA). Other awards have included Second Prize in the 2004 Strictly Functional Pottery National in Lancaster, PA, (Susan Peterson, juror), and Honorable Mention Prizes in the national Vessels 2007 exhibition in Durham, NC, and the 2005 Arts Worcester Biennial, Worcester, MA.

Suzanne’s interactive sculpture Changeable Views was included in the Second Biennial Concordia International (St. Paul, MN) in 2008. Her Whale Sounds sculpture was selected for the 2009 Northeast Prize Art Show (New England residents), the 2009 State of Clay (Massachusetts residents), the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts’ 2008 National Ceramic Competition, and the 2008 Ceramics Biennial at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. One of her works was also selected for  the 2008 Lines into Shapes Art Competition (Estes Park, CO). In 2007, she had two works chosen for Bowls 2007 (Wilmington, NC) and a sculptural vessel for the 27th Annual July National Art Exhibition (Southport, NC). Both of her entries for the Kent State 6th Annual National Juried Cup Show were selected for exhibition in 2006, and in that same year, she also had a piece chosen for the New Hampshire Institute of Arts 2006 Clay Biennial. From 2004-05, her work was chosen for many national exhibitions including the 2004 National Prize Art Show sponsored by the Cambridge Art Association, the 2004 Vitrified Clay National (Rockport, TX), the 2005 Jersey Shore National (Surf City, NJ), the 2005 25th Annual July National Art Exhibition (Southport, NC), and the 2005 18th National Juried Art Exhibition (Mableton, GA). In 2005, she also had pieces selected for the biennial statewide (MA) juried show, The State of Clay, and a New England artists’ juried show entitled Blue. Her work has been featured several times in juried group exhibitions sponsored by Arts Worcester and has also been chosen for shows and exhibits in Providence, Philadelphia, Saratoga Springs, and Great Barrington.

Also a professional musician, Suzanne is on the faculty of Wellesley College where she teaches flute and chamber music. She is co-Artistic Director and flutist for the period instrument chamber ensemble Musicians of the Old Post Road, a winner of the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society. She has recorded for Meridian, Telarc, and Titanic. 

Artist’s Statement

My life as a professional musician has happily allowed for much creative work. Yet, most of this creativity has taken place in the inherently intangible realm of the temporal. Thus the terrifically tangible process of creating in clay has been an exhilarating contrast.

Since the outset of my work in clay, I have focused on making unique expressive objects. Textures and patterns found in nature provide inspiration for form and surface treatment in much of my work. I often employ only slips, underglazes, and oxide washes in order to let the clay speak most articulately. For several years, I have worked primarily with porcelain, finding in its fragility a challenging, but most aptly receptive claybody.

Over the past couple of years, my work has included increasing numbers of multi-component and interactive sculptures that invite participation from the viewer. Most of these works have innumerable permutations for viewing. Perhaps also influenced from my background as a professional musician, these flexible sculptures allow for creating variations in the artwork such as might be experienced in the live performance of a musical composition from concert to concert.