maintained a commitment to be
an innovative and cutting-edge
experience for ceramic artists.”
The Bray hosts io long-term
residents, some for up to two
years, along with other artists
who come for a few months.
The atmosphere is unstructured
and nurturing. “There aren’t
formal critiques. The resident
artists aren’t students,” Lee
says. “What we offer them is
the freedom to just be in the stu-
dio and commit to their work,
and we try to provide the best
possible facilities and environ-
ment for them to do that in.”
Residents get free work-
space and access to equipment,
but are responsible for their sup-
plies and in-town lodgings. The
Bray selects them on merit, aim-
ing for a diversity of styles and
approaches to the medium. “We
all consider ourselves predomi-
nantly clay artists, but there are
so many divergent paths in the
mix. All of us try to push the
boundaries a little,” says resi-
dent artist Aaron Benson, who
makes architectural forms using
clay in combination with wood
and other materials. Just 26,
he came to Helena with his wife
and two toddlers in 2009 after
graduating from the University
of Tennessee, Knoxville, and
has since produced an exten-
sive, refined body of work that’s
gained him acceptance to gradu-
ate school at Alfred University
in New York.
“It’s been a huge blessing.
It allowed me to explore and
have the freedom to take risks,
make mistakes, find out what’s
working for me and what’s not
-that total freedom to just push
the work,” Benson says. With-
out a doubt, where he is has
been a motivating factor. “It’s
like: ‘The bar has been raised.
You’re at the Bray - step it up.’ ”
Past and present live in har-
mony on the Bray site. Along
with newer, modern facilities,
old buildings are being reused,
converted to studios or galler-
ies. “There’s a really wonderful
kind of romance that comes
Kurt W eiser
R ed Queen,
2008
porcelain, china paint
18 x 10 x 8 in.
Below:
Rudy Autio
M agic Horses o f
Columbia Gardens,
1983
stoneware
Above:
Peter Voulkos
Untitled Stack,
1974
stoneware, glaze
39-5
x n
-5
x 12 in.
042 american craft jun/juin
Kurt Weiser
