| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | With intense attention to detail and a personal connection to the land, John’s work has been celebrated and collected by artists and admirers all over the world. Through his work with clay, John felt connected to the earth as he attempted to marry interpretations of the history of the land with the fundamentals of his art, including form and colour. John is known for digging his own clay, developing and testing his own glaze recipes, and designing and building his own kilns, including building the first high-temperature wood-fired kiln in Western Canada in 1969. He is an institution in the Canadian, and Albertan, art and ceramics community and is a celebrated contributor to the craft of ceramics as a whole. In addition to judging both national and international ceramic exhibitions, he has written numerous articles and produced films on the history and production of ceramics.
Born in Gloucestershire, UK in 1940, John Chalke was educated at the Bath Academy of Art, where he received both art training and a teacher’s certificate in art education. After teaching ceramics in London, John came to Canada in 1968. John taught at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary and the Alberta College of Art and Design and has presented a variety of lectures and workshops throughout North America. John’s work has been shown in over 250 solo and group exhibitions throughout the world, and in addition to receiving numerous awards, in 2000, John was the first recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Media and Visual Arts for Fine Craft, and in 2005, he received an Alberta Centennial Award for Excellence.
John passed away in 2014.
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