D. Wayne Higby

Professor/Director of Ceramic Art Museum
Ceramic Art
School of Art and Design
Ceramic Art Museum
waynehigby.acam@spicydom.com
607-871-2243


"Earth, sky, time, light, space: my work is a meditation on the relationship between mind and matter. It is not about landscape."

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Biography

Wayne Higby is a ceramic artist and educator. His unique vision of the American Landscape and its manifestation in work ranging from vessel form to tile, sculpture and architectural installation has brought him international recognition. His work is held in the permanent collections of numerous art museums around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. He is a professor and the Robert C. Turner Chair of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, where he has also served as Chair of the Division of Ceramic Art. Higby is a published authority on ceramic art, acknowledged for his articulate lectures, essays and critical evaluations. Higby is the recipient of both the Master of the Media and the Distinguished Educator awards from the James Renwick Alliance as well as the American Craft Museum (Museum of Arts and Design, New York) Visionary award. Since 1991, he has traveled and taught extensively in the Peoples Republic of China. Higby is an Honorary Professor of Art at Shanghai University and the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute as well as a faculty member of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. In 2004 he became the first foreign national to be acclaimed an Honorary Citizen of the “porcelain city“ of Jingdezhen. Higby is a member of Honor of the United States National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), a Life Trustee of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Vice President of the International Academy of Ceramics, Geneva, Switzerland. A major book on Wayne Higby’s work and his project “EarthCloud” ---the largest hand cut porcelain, architectural installation in the world---has recently been published by Arnoldsche, Stuttgart, Germany, ISBN 978.3.89790.276.3.
  • Wayne Higby: Thresholds, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York, 2003
  • Wayne Higby: Landscape as Memory, 1990-1999
  • Museum of Art & Design, Helsinki, Finland, 1999
  • Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 1991, 1997
  • Helen Drutt Gallery, New York, NY, 1988, 1990
  • Okun-Thomas Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 1979
  • Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1996
  • Exhibit A, Gallery of American Ceramics, Evanston, IL, 1975, 1978, 1980
  • Museum of Contemporary Crafts (American Craft Museum), New York, NY, 1973
  • Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, 1969
  • Standing Room Only: The 60th Scripps Ceramic Annual, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, 2004
  • 21st Century Ceramics in the United States and Canada, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH, 2003
  • USA Clay, National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC, 2001
  • Everson Ceramic National 2000, 30th Ceramic National, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, 2000
  • Color and Fire: Defining Moments in American Studio Ceramics 1950-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA, CA, 2000
  • Clay Into Art: Contemporary Ceramics, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1998-1999
  • Yixing International Ceramic Art Invitational Exhibition, Yixing, P.R. China, 1998
  • Kaolin International Ceramic Art Exhibition, Jiangxi Porcelain Research Institute, Jingdezhen, P.R. China, 1995
  • New Acquisitions, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, 1993
  • Twentieth Century Ceramics Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1992
  • Fragile Blossoms, Enduring Earth, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, 1989
  • East-West Contemporary Ceramics, Seoul Olympic Arts Festival, South Korea, 1988
  • Power Over the Clay, Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, 1988
  • The Eloquent Object, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, 1987
  • 27th Ceramic National Exhibition, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, 1987
  • Craft Today, Poetry of the Physical, American Craft Museum, New York, NY, 1986
  • American Potters Today, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, 1986
  • International Ceramics, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, 1985
  • 13th Chunichi International Exhibition of Ceramics, Nagoya, Japan, 1985
  • Directions in Contemporary Ceramics, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA, 1984
  • Ceramic Echoes, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO, 1983
  • Master Craftsmen ’82, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, FL 1982
  • Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 1980
  • 8th Chunichi International Exhibition of Ceramic Arts, Nagoya, Japan, 1980
  • American Craft Museum
  • Boston Museum of Fine Arts
  • Brooklyn Museum of Art
  • Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art
  • Honolulu Academy of Art
  • Denver Art Museum
  • Everson Museum of Art
  • Jingdezhen Museum of Art, P.R. China
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Minneapolis Institute of Art
  • Musee Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Museum Het Kruithuis, The Netherlands
  • National Museum of Modern Art,Tokyo
  • National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Rochester Memorial Art Gallery
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Awards/Honors

  • Honorary Director of the Institute of International Arts, College of Fine Arts, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China, 2010
  • Voulkos Fellow, Archie Bray foundation,2009
  • Honorary Member of the Council, NCECA, 2005
  • Master of the Media, James Renwick Alliance, 2005
  • Honorary Citizen, Jingdezhen, P.R. China, 2004
  • Appointed: Life Trustee, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 2003
  • Distinguished Educator Award, James Renwick Alliance, 2002
  • Recognition of Excellence, American Ceramic Society, 1998
  • American Craft Movement Visionary Award, American Craft Museum, 1995
  • College of Fellows, American Craft Council, 1995
  • Honorary Professor of Ceramic Art, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, P.R. China, 1995
  • Honorary Professor of Art, College of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, 2000
  • Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, State University of New York, 1993
  • Master Teacher Award, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT, 1990
  • George A. and Eliza Howard Foundation Fellowship, 1986
  • New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, 1985, 1989
  • National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1973, 1977, 1988

Professional Experience

Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 1973-present Professor, Robert C. Turner Chair of Ceramic Art Kruson Distinguished Professor 

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