Hewitt | The Marks Project

About

Biography

Mark Hewitt uses local clay and traditional North Carolina pottery techniques including salt glaze, ash glaze and pressing glass into the thrown pieces before firing to create distinctive colors and patterns. In addition to vessel forms, Hewitt created a series of grave markers based on the traditional markers used in the Southeastern United States.

Hewitt is the third generation of his family to be involved with ceramics, his father and grandfather were directors of Spode Pottery Stoke-on-Trent, England. Bernard Leach?s influential text, A Potter?s Book, sent him to the potter?s studio rather than the office. He spent three years as an apprentice in Michael Cardew's studio in England and continued his independent study traveling to potteries in West Africa, Taiwan, Korea and Japan finally settling in America. Hewitt apprenticed for three years with Todd Piker at his Cornwall Bridge Pottery, Connecticut.

In 1983 Hewitt established a pottery in North Carolina. He built a 900 cubic foot wood kiln to fire oversized jars and planters and a wide range of functional domestic wares. The kiln is fired with approximately 2000 pots three times a year.

Apprenticeships & Residencies

1976

1979

Apprenticed to Michael Cardew, Wenford Bridge Pottery, Bodmin, England

Primary Work Experience

Other

Public Collections

Ackland Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California

Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina

Chrysler Museum Of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Gregg Museum, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina

High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia

Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

National Arboretum, Washington, D.C.

North Carolina Pottery Center, Seagrove, North Carolina

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rocky Mount Arts center, Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville, North Carolina

Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bibliography

Benfey, Christopher. Mark Hewitt at the Crossroads. Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, January 2011.

Campbell, Joe. “Conversations: Mark Hewitt.” Clay Times (July 2009).

____________. Mark Hewitt, A Few of My Favorite Things About North Carolina Pottery. Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, January 2011.

Glassie, Henry. “Mark Hewitt-Outside.” Studio Potter (December 2002).

Hewitt, Mark. “A Colony of Dreamers: Mark Hewitt Reflects on His Journey From Stoke-on-Trent to North Carolina.” Ceramic Review (January/February 2012).

___________ “Working Potter.” Ceramics Monthly (May 2009).

___________”Functional Pride: Putting the Fun Back into Functional Pottery.” Ceramics Monthly (June 2007).

____________ “Iced Tea Ceremony.” Ceramics Monthly (April 2002).

___________and Nancy Sweezy. The Potter’s Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.

___________ and Mark Shapiro. “Potters in Print: History, Research, and Publication,” National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), Tampa, Florida (March 2011).

Lebow, Ed. “Village Potter.” American Craft (December 2004).

Morrison, Jim. “The Magic of a Very Hot Fire.” The Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2001.

Summers, Wendy. “Mammoth Pots.” Clay Times (December 2005).

Yellin, Robert. “Marking Time.” Ceramics: Art and Perception 50 (December 2002).

CV or Resume

Website(s)