Kentucky.gov

On Saturday, March 29, Robert Brigl of Bowling Green, will sculpt faces onto clay jugs created using a potters wheel from 10:30 – 3:30 at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Born in North Dakota, Robert Brigl grew up in the Midwest and came to Kentucky when his father came to the state to finish his doctorate. Robert studied ceramics at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, under the direction of professor Bill Weaver. After graduating with a BA in Art Education in 1974, Robert apprenticed for four years with Weaver, assisting him in the building of a studio and kilns. During this apprenticeship, Robert worked on another degree at Western and received an MA in Public Administration in 1976. He then worked as the exhibits curator for the Kentucky Museum for ten years before deciding to return to clay. From 1986 to the present he has taught high school art in the Warren County Public Schools.

Drawn to the traditional forms of American Folk Pottery, Robert makes both functional and sculptural ceramic jugs and bottles on the potter’s wheel. He sculpts these thrown forms with faces and figures by adding coils and pieces of clay to their surfaces. He often makes the eyes from white porcelain clay. Robert often finishes these pieces with glaze and sometimes adds semi-precious stones, or sand blasts the surfaces to make the glazes appear to be time-worn.  He also makes a line of handbuilt and pinched face “Nuts” in a variety of sizes from two to four inches. Robert is a juried member of the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program and regularly shows his work at the co-operative studio and gallery, The Pots Place in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Works by Robert Brigl can regularly be found at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from 90 counties from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov 

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.