Senska | The Marks Project

About

Biography

Jeffrey Oestreich?s functional porcelain or stoneware pots are thrown and then altered or slab built. In the early 1980s Oestreich wood fired, then, he began soda firing. His most common decoration is a series of Art Deco inspired motifs on contrasting color grounds that move around the form exploring figure ground relationships.

Oestreich was first introduced to ceramics by Warren Mackenzie at the University of Minnesota.

Apprenticeships & Residencies

1979

Honorary Life Member, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA)

1982

Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana

1988

Fellow Award, American Craft Council

1988

Montana Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts

2002

Meloy-Stevenson Award of Distinction for Outstanding Service to the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana

Primary Work Experience

1939

1942

Art Instructor, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa

1942

1946

WAVE U.S. Navy Reserves

1946

1973

Professor of Art, Montana State College, Bozeman, Montana

1948

Founding member of Montana Institute of the Arts, Kalispell, Montana

1954

1956

Crafts Chair, Montana Institute of the Arts, Kalispell, Montana

1961

1962

Director, Montana Institute of the Arts, Kalispell, Montana

1964

Fellow, Montana Institute of the Arts, Kalispell, Montana

Other

Public Collections

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Holter Museum, Helena, Montana

Bibliography

Autio, Lele, Gennie DeWeese, and Frances Senska. “Montana Historical Society Panel Discussion 1990 March 7.” General Montana History Collection (Montana Historical Society) 1 tape.

Browning, Skylar. “Ms. Senska’s Opus.” Missoula Independent 17, no. 49 (December 7, 2006).

Frances Senska: A Life in Art. Helena, MT: Holter Museum of Art, 2005.

“Eleven Montana Potters.” Studio Potter 8, no. 1 (1979).

Folk, Thomas. “Frances Senska: Studio Potter. American Ceramics 8, no. 2.

“Frances Senska (Exhibit in the Boardwalk Room of Gallery “85, Billings, Montana).” Ceramics Monthly 20 (November 1972).

“Frances Senska Interview, 1998 June 9.” General Montana History Collection (Montana Historical Society) 2 tapes.

“Frances Senska and Jessie Wilbur Interview, 1979 July.” General Montana History Collection (Montana Historical Society) 1 tape.

Galusha, Emily, and Mary Ann Nord. Clay Talks: Reflections by American Master Ceramists. Minneapolis, MN: Northern Clay Center, 2004.

Hunter, Robert, ed. Ceramics in America 2004. Fox Point, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 2004.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics 1607 to the Present. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1988.

Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. “Evolving Forms with Frances Senska.” Bozeman, MT: Montana State University, 1978, VHS.

Newby, Rick. “Frances Senska: Missionary for Modernism. American Craft 65, no. 2 (April/May 2005).

“Portrait.” Bulletin of the Portland Museum of Art 15 (June 1954).

Senska, Frances. “Pottery in a Brickyard.” American Craft 42 (February/March 1982).

Smith, Marjorie. “Frances Senska. Ceramics Monthly 50, no. 7 (September 2002) 50- 54.

Smith, Marjorie, and Bill Neff. “Frances Senska – Art All the Time.” Bozeman, MT: KUSM-TV/MontanaPBS, 1997 DVD, VHS.

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