APPRENTICESHIP SUMMARY

This clay-based apprenticeship will focus on learning the end to end process of hand built wood fired ceramics. Through guided experimentation, Apprentice Tejas Moses will further develop his technique for hand built forms while sourcing and creating glazes using raw materials. Tejas will also establish a self sustaining regimen of creativity based on regularity, using a sketchbook that will be reviewed weekly, and lastly, to develop a broad and deep understanding of ceramic history so that his contemporary work is contextualized, inspired, and enriched. This will be accomplished through 100 hours of guidance in their shared studio space, available 24 hours per day, as well as gallery and museum visits.

MENTOR

Al Jaeger (Deerfield, NH)

My woods, fields, garden, and people translate into the lines, tones, textures, shapes, and colors of these clay works. The clays incorporate sand, gravel, feldspar, and coffee grounds. Glazes mostly defer to the wood fire kiln which magically (and with hard work) brings everything together. The kiln, in my pasture, is cooperatively designed, built, and operated by the NH Potters Guild.

I juried into the League of NH Craftsmen in the early 1970s, became a clay juror in the early 1980s, and joined the Board of Standards in the mid 1990s. In 1995 I created the BFA Program in Ceramics at the NH Institute of Art.

My work can be found in the Currier Museum of Art, at the NH State Council on the Arts, and in corporate and private collections. I am represented by Kelley-Stelling Contemporaries in Manchester and am honored to be designated a New Hampshire “Living Treasure.”

“I have known Tejas since High School when he impressed me with his direct and refreshing curiosity. At UNH his work was distinctive, and he built an experimental wood-fueled kiln on my property as part of his senior thesis. After graduation I let him use part of my studio . I admire his quality as a human being as well as his potential to be an outstanding ceramist. How could the next logical step not be an apprenticeship?.” – Al Jaeger

APPRENTICE

Tejas Moses (Deerfield, NH)

“I want to work with Al principally because I am attracted to his work and I admire the way he conducts himself as part of a broader community. He is an excellent teacher of ceramic techniques and history. After more than five decades living on the same land and always engaging with woodfired clay, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience that is invaluable to me as an artist and to the future of clay craft in our region more broadly.” – Tejas Moses