Collection:
Walter Ostrom
Walter Ostrom
ceramics master and historian, teacher, scientist, and gardener extraordinaire
A major force in the world of contemporary ceramics, Walter Ostrom was the leading ceramics professor in the Craft Division of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax. He is also Honorary Professor of ceramics at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China.
Ostrom is regarded internationally as a technical and academic expert in low-fire maiolica production, an ancient ceramic technique that he has personally tailored through innovations and decorative methods to reflect the geography of the places he has lived, be it Canada or China.
In the span of his nearly 40-year career, Ostrom has investigated many aspects of ceramics in his work, from experiments in high conceptualism in the 1970s to his current focus on the exploration of the vast history, hybridization and social foundation of ceramics. Ostrom’s work has been exhibited throughout Canada, and in Europe, China, Australia and the United States. He received the Saidye Bronfman Award in 2003 and Nova Scotia’s Portia White Prize in 2008.
Walter Ostrom has been described as an "innovative traditionalist," a disruptive force shaking up ceramic conventions while simultaneously enriching them. As Ray Cronin writes, Ostrom’s works "declare themselves to be art and craft at once, tradition and innovation merged, beauty and function reconciled, thought and action combined. What more could one ask from any work of art?"
In 2020 – 2021, Ostrom’s work was seen in a major retrospective titled “Good Earth: The Pots and Passion of Walter Ostrom” at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. An accompanying large catalogue contains essays by numerous colleagues and covers many aspects of Ostrom’s career: his against-the-grain ceramics; passion about and teaching of Asian ceramic history; studio pedagogy; and prolific gardening. His personal story is told there, and elsewhere, beginning in small town New York and a degree in biochemistry from an Ohio college, from which he leapt, entranced with ceramics, to an MFA from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Shortly after graduation Ostrom was offered a full-time position at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax to teach ceramics and Asian art history. When he arrived at NSCAD, conceptual art was de rigueur. Initially he removed the potter’s wheels from the ceramics classroom in order that students think about craft and art rather than immediately address form. Later, he reinstated the wheels because he realized the value of knowing traditional techniques.
Ceramic history in Nova Scotia relied on local clay both for Indigenous makers and colonists’ use. Ostrom experimented with red Lantz clay in his studio and found he liked it. He justified bringing it to NSCAD in this way: “Working in ceramics history, one of the things I realized is that Faenza looks the way it does because of the clay that was there. In Jingdezhen, even the garbage cans are made of porcelain clay because that’s what’s there. In other words, what you inherit geologically establishes the parameter that you work within, and you’re always pushing against the edges.” It made sense to work with local brick clay, which provided another teaching opportunity.
In his home and garden Ostrom’s pots contained plants, and on his table, they contained food. The utilitarian and the artistic were always fused. The selection of pieces now at Studio 21 came from his home and were once laid out on his dining table that has fed many visitors, students and friends.
(with extracts from D. Wood, Ceramics Monthly, March 2022, etcetera)
A major force in the world of contemporary ceramics, Walter Ostrom was the leading ceramics professor in the Craft Division of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax. He is also Honorary Professor of ceramics at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China.
Ostrom is regarded internationally as a technical and academic expert in low-fire maiolica production, an ancient ceramic technique that he has personally tailored through innovations and decorative methods to reflect the geography of the places he has lived, be it Canada or China.
In the span of his nearly 40-year career, Ostrom has investigated many aspects of ceramics in his work, from experiments in high conceptualism in the 1970s to his current focus on the exploration of the vast history, hybridization and social foundation of ceramics. Ostrom’s work has been exhibited throughout Canada, and in Europe, China, Australia and the United States. He received the Saidye Bronfman Award in 2003 and Nova Scotia’s Portia White Prize in 2008.
Walter Ostrom has been described as an "innovative traditionalist," a disruptive force shaking up ceramic conventions while simultaneously enriching them. As Ray Cronin writes, Ostrom’s works "declare themselves to be art and craft at once, tradition and innovation merged, beauty and function reconciled, thought and action combined. What more could one ask from any work of art?"
In 2020 – 2021, Ostrom’s work was seen in a major retrospective titled “Good Earth: The Pots and Passion of Walter Ostrom” at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. An accompanying large catalogue contains essays by numerous colleagues and covers many aspects of Ostrom’s career: his against-the-grain ceramics; passion about and teaching of Asian ceramic history; studio pedagogy; and prolific gardening. His personal story is told there, and elsewhere, beginning in small town New York and a degree in biochemistry from an Ohio college, from which he leapt, entranced with ceramics, to an MFA from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Shortly after graduation Ostrom was offered a full-time position at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax to teach ceramics and Asian art history. When he arrived at NSCAD, conceptual art was de rigueur. Initially he removed the potter’s wheels from the ceramics classroom in order that students think about craft and art rather than immediately address form. Later, he reinstated the wheels because he realized the value of knowing traditional techniques.
Ceramic history in Nova Scotia relied on local clay both for Indigenous makers and colonists’ use. Ostrom experimented with red Lantz clay in his studio and found he liked it. He justified bringing it to NSCAD in this way: “Working in ceramics history, one of the things I realized is that Faenza looks the way it does because of the clay that was there. In Jingdezhen, even the garbage cans are made of porcelain clay because that’s what’s there. In other words, what you inherit geologically establishes the parameter that you work within, and you’re always pushing against the edges.” It made sense to work with local brick clay, which provided another teaching opportunity.
In his home and garden Ostrom’s pots contained plants, and on his table, they contained food. The utilitarian and the artistic were always fused. The selection of pieces now at Studio 21 came from his home and were once laid out on his dining table that has fed many visitors, students and friends.
(with extracts from D. Wood, Ceramics Monthly, March 2022, etcetera)