VAL CUSHING – (1931 - )
Val Cushing has played a notable part in the history of contemporary American ceramics. As a
professor at Alfred University he has both trained and mentored a large number of artists whose
names are well-known in the field. He has written several books which are classic texts, and his
skills as a teacher have been honored by awards from Alfred University, Regis Masters, and
NCECA among others. He was one of the founders of the National Council on the Education for
the Ceramic Arts and served as its president. He is equally honored for his own ceramic work
which pays homage to the functional vessel with beautifully crafted and decorated bowls,
pitchers, casseroles and storage jars. While he has also produced a body of work whose focus
is more sculptural than functional, it is the piece that will be used, that is pleasing both to the
eye and the touch, that continues to give pleasure throughout its lifetime, that is most gratifying
to Cushing. Peter Beasecker, who served as Val Cushing’s teaching assistant notes that “Val
conveyed his passion for pottery and the sheer joy of the expressive act genuinely and
convincingly…He was inspiring in his persistent and tireless advocacy of Beauty…Beauty as
found not only in objects but in a life lived.”1
1. Peter Beasecker. “Acknowledging Mentors.” Studio Potter 31 no. 2 (June 2003): 19-20.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT – VAL CUSHING
“I aspire to make pottery that is both beautiful and useful. I place as much emphasis as I can on
the sensuous qualities of a pot, mainly by the use of color, form and surface textures that are as
stimulating to see as to touch. The goal is to make use more pleasurable. I also make some
vessels based on a different premise. In these, use is less of an issue; much more importance
is placed on the imaginative potential of pottery forms to be seen as sculpture is seen. All of my
work, whether pottery or vessels, employs various references and influences that help direct the
visual dynamics. But nature, above all else, is my primary source. I think about how and why
things look as they do. I make drawings from nature, from the landscape, from growing things,
and from my thoughts about them – something coalesces from all of this and becomes a
piece.”1
1. http://www.theartisangallery.com/exhibitions/val_cushing.html
RESUME – VAL CUSHING
1931
Born, Rochester, NY
1952
B.F.A., School of Art & Design, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred
University, Alfred, NY
1952-1954
U.S. Army
1956
M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1956-1957
Instructor, School of Art, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL
1957-1997
Professor of Ceramic Art, School of Art & Design, State University of New York
College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1974
Fellow, National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (Founding Member)
1975
Fulbright Award
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, State University of New York
Instructor, Manchester Polytechnic, Great Britain
Instructor, Wolverhampton Polytechnic, Great Britain
1976
Ceramic Artist of the Year Award, American Ceramic Society and NCECA
1981
Kruson Award for Distinguished Teaching, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
1983
National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Grant
1984
Instructor, National School of Art & Design, Oslo, Norway
1987
Fellow of the American Crafts Council
1996
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Award for Teaching
Excellence
1997
Retired as Professor Emeritus
Instructor, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
1997-present Studio Artist, Alfred Station, NY
2004
Instructor, Touchstone School of Crafts, Farmington, PA
2005
Regis Masters Award, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
BIOGRAPHY – VAL CUSHING
Most of Val Cushing’s life has been rooted on the East Coast. Born in Rochester, NY, he
stayed in the area to attend the School of Art & Design at the New York State College of
Ceramics at Alfred University. While he had been interested in art, his high school offered little
formal instruction so he did not have the traditional portfolio for his application. What he did
have was a good background in sports, and he was recruited by the football coach and attended
the university on an athletic scholarship. As only the second member of his family to attend
college, he was amazed at both the variety of experiences the college offered and the
realization that people were studying not just art, but the many facets of art. During his senior
year Marguerite Wildenhain spent two weeks at Alfred teaching her particular style of pottery
and the experience convinced Cushing that he wanted to be a potter.
Cushing received his BFA in 1952 and was drafted into the Army. He served for two years as a
military policeman at Fort Dix in New Jersey, then returned to Alfred where he received his MFA
in 1956. During his time in the service he used his days off to travel to New York City to see
and sketch the ceramics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also met a nurse, Elsie Brown,
who would become his wife in 1953. When his term of service was over, the Cushings moved
back to Alfred where he entered graduate school on the GI Bill, receiving his MFA in 1956.
Cushing’s first job out of school was as a ceramics teacher at the University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana, replacing a professor who was spending the year at Alfred. During that
year a job opened up at Alfred, and Cushing was invited to apply. Illinois offered him a more
generous salary to remain there, but “In my mind the possibility of teaching at Alfred – …I
wouldn’t even have dreamed of it. Never thought it would be possible.”1 The Cushings returned
to Alfred in 1957 and Val Cushing remained there for the rest of his career, retiring in 1997 as
Professor Emeritus. Since his retirement he has continued teaching, giving workshops and
teaching summer courses that have had him traveling throughout the United States as well as to
Canada and Japan. He also continues to work as a studio artist, something he has more time
for now that he is no longer teaching full time.
Although Cushing has been exposed to many traditions of pottery, he describes himself as an
American potter, the emphasis on functional design made by hand. In his own work he believes
the usability of the piece is important and functional work remains the core of his focus. He also
makes vessels that are more sculptural, but “…pottery, conceived as a functional utilitarian
object…a resolution where the useful and the beautiful have one voice”2 forms the heart of his
work and continues to provide him great satisfaction.
As much as for his work, Val Cushing is noted for his teaching. He made the decision early in
his career to follow that path because he felt his own teachers had played such a meaningful
role in his life. He credits Charles Harder, Marion Fosdick, Katharine Nelson, Dan Rhodes, and
Ted Randall for their profound influences on his career, and during his own teaching years
focused on sharing his enthusiasm for his work as well as his skills with his students.
Throughout the time he was teaching he continued to actively work as a studio artist as he
believes it enriched his teaching by bringing new insights to his work as well as inspiring his
students to find their own artistic voices. Cushing was also involved with both teaching and
directing the Alfred summer school, a program which he believes is very important in the history
of contemporary ceramics, bringing many noted people to the school to study the technical
basis of ceramics for which Alfred is well noted. In addition, Cushing has written and published
several well-known books based on his courses that are standards in the field.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has called Cushing “..a firm adherent of the
wheelthrown, utilitarian vessel.”3 His work is subtle, exquisitely crafted, with understated
glazing. He often combines both concave and convex shapes in the same piece, many with
lids. His pieces are pleasing both to the eye and the touch. Cushing’s work has been included
in numerous exhibitions and one-person shows both in the United States and abroad, and is
included in the permanent collections of the American Craft Museum, the Smithsonian
Institution, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the International Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan,
among many others. During the course of his long career he has received a number of awards.
Among them are a Fulbright Award, National Endowment for the Arts grant, Regis Masters
Award, NCECA Award for Teaching Excellence, Ceramic Artist of the Year Award and others.
He was one of the founders of the National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts
(NCECA), serving as president. He is a Fellow of both NCECA and the American Craft Council.
Val Cushing entered ceramics during a time when the field was undergoing tremendous
change. He and his contemporaries, along with the students they taught, are among the core of
contemporary American ceramics, a field which encompasses both the functional and the nonfunctional form. “(Cushing) has deliberately chosen to work within the limitations imposed by
such conventional formats as bowls, pitchers, casseroles, and storage jars. Respecting function
and the traditional materials and processes of ceramic art, he has created a body of work that is
artistically fresh and adventurous – and invigorating infusion of the visual and the tactile.”4
1. “Interview with Val Cushing.” Conducted by Margaret Carney in Alfred Station, NY, April 16
2001. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/cushin01.htm
2. “Artist’s Statement.” Courtesy of the artist.
3. Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Val Cushing.”
http://www.americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=5897
4. Ibid.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY – VAL CUSHING
Books and Catalogs
Busbee, Everette, et al. Works by Four Ceramic Artists. Cortland, NY: State University College
at Cortland, 1988.
Carney, Margaret, et al. The Alfred Asia Connection: the Asia Alfred Reflection. New York:
Taipei Gallery, 1998.
Clark, Garth. American Potters: the Work of Twenty Modern Masters. New York: WatsonGuptill Publications, 1981.
Cushing, Val. The Ceramic Design Book. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2000.
Cushing, Val, and Emily H. Davis Art Gallery. An Exhibition of Works in Clay by Val
Cushing…[et al.] Akron, OH: Emily H. Davis Art Gallery, University of Akron, 1976.
Cushing, Val, Kenneth Ferguson, et al. Clay Body Preparation. [S.l.]: National Council on
Education for the Ceramic Arts, 1967?
Cushing, Val, Karen Gringhuis, and New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University,
School of Art and Design. Cushing’s Handbook. Alfred, NY: [The Author], 1994.
DeSmidt, Thomas, and Val Cushing. Paintings and Drawing by Thomas DeSmidt: Ceramics by
Val Cushing. Rochester, NY: The University of Rochester. Memorial Art Gallery, 1972.
Hunt, Bill. 21st Century Ceramics in the United States and Canada. Westerville, OH: American
Ceramic Society, 2003.
Krannert Art Museum. Alfred Now: Contemporary American Ceramics. Champaign, IL:
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavillion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.
Malone, Tom, William Farrell, et al. Notes on Salt Glazing. [S.L.]: National Council on
Education for the Ceramic Arts, 1968.
Mint Museum of Art. 3rd Annual Piedmont Craft Exhibition. Charlotte, NC: Mint Museum of Art,
1965.
Nichols, Gail. Soda, Clay and Fire. Westerville, OH: American Ceramic Society, 2006.
Pei-Ching, Lin, Hayne Bayless, et al. New Ceramics. New Haven, CT: Creative Arts
Workshop, 1993.
Peterson, Susan. Contemporary Ceramics. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000.
__________. The Craft and Art of Clay. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1992.
Purdue University, Galleries. Pots and Not-Pots. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University, Department
of Art and Design, 1966.
25: Jane Hartsook Gallery. New York: Jane Hartsook Gallery, 1994.
Weekly, Nancy, and the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, School of Art
and Design. Ann Currier, Val Cushing, Andrea Gill, John Gill, Wayne Higby, Doug Jeck. Alfred,
NY: New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, 1996.
Xie, Margaret Carney, Val Cushing, et al. What You Give Away You Keep Forever. Alfred, NY:
Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred, the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University,
1995.
Periodicals
Anderson, G., and B. Brault. “{Adelle M. Fine Art Gallery, Dallas; Exhibit.}” Ceramics Monthly
30 (April 1982): 79+
Beasecker, Peter. “Acknowledging Mentors.” Studio Potter 31 no. 2 (June 2003): 19-20.
“Ceramics East Coast.” Craft Horizons 26 (June 1966): 20-24.
Cohen, H. G. “Six Potters at the Kendall Art Galleries.” Craft Horizons 25 (September 1965):
43.
“{Cooper-Lynn Gallery, New York; Exhibit.}” Ceramics Monthly 30 (October 1982): 27-29.
Cushing, Val. “Mentoring in Art School.” Studio Potter 31 no. 2 (June 2003): 17-18.
“GI Bill and the American Studio Craft Movement.” American Craft 67 no. 4 (August/September
2007): 54-62.
“In Celebration of Utilitarian Clay.” Ceramics Monthly 45 (Jaunary 1997): 47-51.
“In Recognition.” Ceramics Monthly 49 no. 6 (June/August 2001): 53-79.
Lebow, Edward. “Val Cushing: A Constructivist Approach.” American Craft 67 no. 1
(February/March 2007): 78-81, 112.
McCoy, Mary. “{Farrell Collection, Washington, D.C.; Exhibit.}” American Craft 53
(February/March 1993): 64-65.
McTwigan, Michael. “A Conversation with Val Cushing and Paul Soldner.” American Ceramics
7 no. 4 (1989): 36-39.
“Notes on Terra Sigillata: Earth Seal.” Studio Potter 11 (June 1983): 21-22, 32-34.
Riddle, Mason. “2006 Regis Masters Exhibition: Val Cushing, John Mason, and Paul Soldner.”
Ceramics Monthly 54 no. 5 (May 2006): 15-16.
“1982 NEA Artists Fellowships {Craft Grantees}. American Craft 42 (December/January 19821983): 2.
Video and Other Media
Cushing, Val. “Charles Fergus Binns, the Father of American Studio Ceramics.” Alfred, NY:
Museum of Ceramic Arts at Alfred, 1991. VHS
Cushing, Val, David Fredrickson, and New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
“[Cushing/Fredrickson Kiln Lecture.]” Alfred, NY, 1992. VHS
Cushing, Val, et al. “Val Cushing, a Life of Clay.” NCECA, 2005. DVD
Cushing, Val, Ellen Shankai, and the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
“[An Accessible Art].” Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, 1997. VHS
GALLERY REPRESENTATION – VAL CUSHING
Harvey/Meadows Gallery, 0133 Prospector Road, Suite 4114, Aspen Highlands Village, Aspen,
CO 81611
WEB SITES – VAL CUSHING
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/cushin01.htm
Transcript of oral history interview of Val Cushing by Margaret Carney; April 16, 2001.
https://www.akardesign.com/creators/moreinfo.asp?iCreatorID=451
AKAR web site with biography, resume for Val Cushing
http://www.americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=5897
Biography and photos of Cushing’s work in the Smithsonian Art Museum
http://www.fmschools.org/ArtDepartment/community/everson/syrchina/Cushing.html
Cushing piece in Everson Museum of Art
http://www.theartisangallery.com/exhibitions/val_cushing.html
Exhibition at the Artisan Gallery
http://www.stratsplace.com/arts/cushing/cushing.html
Photos from an exhibition of Cushing’s work at Cedar Creek Crafts Center, Creedmore, NC,
April, 1999.
http://www.harveymeadows.com/artists/biographies/cushing_bio.html
Biography of Cushing on Harvey/Meadows Gallery site
June 2008