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Born in North Dakota, Robert Brigl grew up in
the Midwest and came to Kentucky when his father came to the
state to finish his doctorate. Robert studied ceramics at Western
Kentucky University in Bowling Green, under the direction of
professor Bill Weaver.
After graduating with a BA in Art Education
in 1974, Robert apprenticed for four years with Weaver, assisting
him in the building of a studio and kilns. During this apprenticeship,
Robert worked on another degree at Western and received an MA
in Public Administration in 1976.
He then worked as the exhibits curator for the
Kentucky Museum for ten years before deciding to return to clay.
From 1986 to 2006, he taught high school art.
He retired in 2006 to allow more time to work with clay. Drawn
to the traditional forms of American Folk Pottery, Robert makes
both functional and sculptural ceramic jugs and bottles on the
potterŐs wheel.
He sculpts these thrown forms with faces and
figures by adding clay to their surfaces. Robert often finishes
these pieces with glaze and adds semi-precious stones, or sand-blasts
the surfaces to make the glazes appear to be time-worn. He also
makes a line of handbuilt and pinched face "Nuts" in a variety
of sizes from two to eight inches.
Robert is a juried member of the Kentucky Craft
Marketing Program and regularly shows his work at the co-operative
studio and gallery, The Pots Place in Bowling Green, Kentucky,
the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, Kentucky, the Kentucky
Museum of Art and Design in Louisville, Kentucky, the Completely
Kentucky Gallery in Frankfort, Kentucky, and the Ferguson Gallery
in Marblehead, Ohio.
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