BIO.

Jonathan Mess creates experimental works using reclaimed ceramic materials. Art critic Daniel Kany writes, “Mess’ slabs usually act like the unruly child versions of paintings. Their lines are wild, and their surfaces are varied and thickly textured with glazes, slips, fissures and irascibly independent materials that refused to be melted into line… In terms of ceramics, Mess’ casual boldness is remarkable.”

An Ohio native, Mess received a BFA at the University of Montana, Missoula in 1998, and an MFA in Ceramics at the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2008. He has been teaching visual arts with a focus on ceramics for over a decade. Mess has received several grants and awards, including the Maine Arts Commission's 2015 Contemporary Craft Fellowship, a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award, a Ruth & Harold Chenven Foundation Grant, and selection as a finalist for the Society of Contemporary Craft’s Raphael Founder’s Prize in 2013. His work is in private collections and is exhibited nationally and internationally. Mess resides, works, and teaches in midcoast Maine. His work is represented by Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, Maine.