Harrie (Skip) Bleecker
Michigan-based American ceramic artist Skip Bleecker creates world-class fine artwork available to private collectors, corporate collections, museums, art galleries, offices, hotels and restaurants. A majority of the work consists of wheel thrown porcelain forms based on organic patterns of microscopic and macroscopic organisms. Some are based on seed pods, teeth, pollen, sea animals, squash, and even watermelon, but as the development proceeds, they merge and take on new forms of possible and imaginary organisms. All are hand made, one-of-a-kind pieces, usually done in a series, so there might be some similarity among some pieces, but no two are ever exactly alike.
For much of Skip’s life he has been involved in various types of so-called arts & crafts, and an early memory is making clay jack-o-lanterns in kindergarten. He is experienced in leather work, lapidary, copper enamel, copper tool, ceramic tile, reed basketry, lanyard weaving, and other crafts. He learned to slipcast clay while in the Air Force, and to throw pots in his first semester at Central Michigan University. Skip started in ceramics and was gradually drawn into sculpture over the next few years, until he had a dual concentration in both. Skip Bleecker’s road to becoming a professional fine artist started in functional ceramics, led into sculptural ceramics, to sculpture in clay, through some video experiments, and now even including computer graphics.
For most of Skip’s life, he has been both attracted to and very allergic to, large numbers of trees, grasses, and bushes. He has refused to become trapped indoors just because of these allergies, and as he began to develop unique sculptural forms, he examined both macroscopic and microscopic elements of nature. By examining the form and structure of seeds and other natural objects, he found great beauty in these simple forms, and developed simple organic sculptural designs, based on slightly abstract versions of these natural world objects.
EDUCATION
Central Michigan University, B.S. ED.-1976, M.A.-1987 (Sculpture and Design),University of Alaska, Anchorage, A.A. 1972,United States Air Force, (Dental Lab Tech.), 1968-l972
GALLERIES
Da Vinci's Gallery, Adrian, Mi, 2006Enigma Gallery, Essex, VT, 2005-2006Circle Gallery at Smith's, Midland, MI, 2003-2006Gallery: FunctionArt, Pontiac, MI, 2001-2002Sistarz Art Gallery, Cape Coral, Fl, 2001
JURIED REGIONAL SHOWS
Sixth Annual Alma College, Statewide Print Competition, Alma, 1986Lansing Art Gallery - Painting and Small Sculpture, 1986- Small Wonders, 1982- Marketplace, 1982The Mid-Michigan Exhibition, Midland, 1978, 1979, 1983Capital City Arts '82, Lansing City Hall, Lansing, 1982Art Reach of Mid-Michigan - Holiday Art Show, Mt. Pleasant, 1982Mt. Pleasant Juried Art Show, Mt. Pleasant, 1978-1982Student Art Show, University Center, C.M.U., 1975, 1977-1979, 1982, 1984, 1986
INVITATIONAL GROUP SHOWS
M. A. (Two person) Show, C.M.U., Mt. Pleasant, 1987Raku Invitational, Artists & Craftsmen Guild Gallery, Ann Arbor,1986The Politics of Whimsy, 16 Hands Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1984Four Person Show, 2 Doors Down Gallery, Lansing, 19836 Potters Show, University Center, C.M.U., Mt. Pleasant, 1982Husband and Wife Show, (with painter Joyce Bleecker) 201 First Street Gallery, Clare, 1979Art Reach of Mid-Michigan - Two Person Show, Mt. Pleasant, 2003