Thomas Holton

Temporary Visiting Lecturer
Ceramics

BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Holton is a native Texan. He received a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin, and his MFA in Ceramics from the Institut für Keramik und Glas in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany. 

He has shown work internationally and maintains working ties to Europe with a summer studio in Germany, as well as residency programs. Thomas brings expertise in Anagama and Raku firing, and specializes in hand-building, wheel throwing, and glaze formulation. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

There is a sense of looking for an underlying geometry in all things. My work focuses on the intersection of art and science and the visual articulation of observations of the natural world. Using the methodologies and processes of both disciplines, I translate data related to astronomy, archaeology, and literature into site-specific installations and sculptural forms.

Through this practice-based research I build new understanding through the act of making. 

My ceramic forms are born from sketches made while observing the evening sky. Depending on my location, and the time of year, this view is ever-changing and I record the visible stars on a graph in my sketchbook. These two-dimensional drawings are later translated to three-dimensional forms in clay.

Various installations which address the passage of time and its effect on my memory have been created over the years. At times this requires recording the movement of the sun through a space, other moments requiring activation of the dust, or history, of the space. The hope is to re-record the passage of time; a moment reinterpreted.

Professional Work