I am a Ceramic Artist. My work is hand sculpted, wheel thrown, and slab constructed. I work with many different clay bodies including stoneware and raku. Pieces are fired in raku, gas reduction, or electric kilns.
The content of my work regularly involves social commentary. My work spotlights the policing of gender, anti-discrimination laws, Bathroom Bills, and issues addressing the LBGTQ community.
I build the figures in my work from a solid piece of clay. When the clay is leather hard the figure is cut apart, hollowed, then carefully put back together before the details are added.
Being vigorous in socially motivated ceramics projects is an important part of the role I play as an art activist and enables me to engage others in needed conversations about contemporary issues including gender identity, sexuality, class, and prejudices.
My current body of work addresses the issues concerning the LGBTQIA community, the rescinding of rights by the Trump administration and the bathroom laws sweeping the nation that threatens the safety of transgender individuals. I am documenting my own experiences and struggles through sculpture and narrative vessels.
Living and working in the state of North Carolina has forced me to address things affecting my community making me the subject of my own work. I have become, for better or worse, visible and vulnerable through making and creating ceramic sculptures. I am generating a dialogue about my life, my own narrative, political and social concerns, and through that process I am educating others.
Find my work on Etsy at MacMcCuskerCeramics.
I am currently living in Durham, NC and am the Studio Manager at Claymakers.
EMAIL: MacStarCeramics@gmail.com
Mac McCusker CV
Education
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. MFA, Studio Art, Ceramics, 2009, Magna cum Laude
Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA, BA in Art, 2002, Honors Program
Employment
2019-Present Studio Manager at Claymakers, Durham, NC.
2017, 2018 Winter Resident Artist at Penland School of Crafts, Spruce Pine, NC, 1/1-1/14
2015-2017 Artist in Resident at Odyssey Center for Ceramics, Asheville NC
2011-2015 Armstrong State University: Adjunct Instructor/ Introduction to Ceramics, Wheel Throwing Techniques, Ceramic Sculpture, Three- Dimensional Design, Two-Dimensional Design.
2011--2012 Savannah State University: Adjunct Instructor/ Sculpture II, Ceramics
2006-2009 Georgia State University: Graduate Lab Assistant, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Exhibitions
2020 100 Women, 100 Years. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA.
2020 Small Favors, The Clay Studio, Philladelphia, PA
2020 It's Still Political: Gender, Sexuality, Identity. Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
2020 Transcendent. The T is Not Silent. Solo Exhibition, Iridian Gallery, Richmond, VA NCECA
2019 Gendered Clay, Claymakers, Durham, NC.
2019 Pried. The Society of Arts and Crafts. Boston, MA.
2019 Queeramics, Baton Rouge, LA.
2019 Fermentation. Socially Engaged Craft Collective, Pre-Conference NCECA. Minneapolis, MN
2018 Queering Appalachia, Western Carolina University, Culowee, NC
2018 Growlerfest. An NCECA Concurrent Exhibition. Pittsburgh, PA.
2018 Trump's Alt-White China. NCECA. Pittsburgh, PA.
2018 Alternate Endings. An NCECA Concurrent Exhibition. Pittsburgh, PA.
2018 (In)Visible. An NCECA Concurrent Exhibition. Pittsburgh, PA.
2018 Me, Myself, and I. Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY. Juror: Kathy King
2018 IN MEMORY OF/ Honoring Trans Lives and Losses. Murmur Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
2017 Containers, Three Wheel Studios, Providence, RI.
2017 A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art. Augusta, GA Juror: Garth Johnson
2017 Proud, The Studio Door, San Diego, CA
2017 Summer of Love, Polesek Gallery, Winter Park, FL
2017 Green, Hayes University, Manhattan, KS
2017 SIP, Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2017 ArtFields, Lake City, SC
2017 Nasty Women Exhibition. Clay Space, Asheville, NC
2016 Three Wheel Studio Cup Exhibition, Three Wheel Studio, Providence, RI
2016 The Clay Cup: Icon, Vessel, Canvas. George Caleb Bingham Gallery, Columbia, Missouri
2016 Socially Engaged Craft Collective, National Clay Week, Project Canary, SouthEast, US
2016 Repeal Hyde Art Project, Can’t Hyde the Future, Boston, MA
2016 UNITED in Pride and Passion, 39th Street Gallery, Brentwood, MD
2016 Social Constructs, San Joaquin Delta College, LH Horton Jr Gallery, Stockton, CA
2016 A Sweet and Slippery Slope, Gallery at Clay Arts Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
2016 SIP, A Ceramic Cup Show, Non-Fiction Gallery, Savannah, GA
2015 Savannah Clay 2015, S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, Savannah, GA
2015 Odyssey Clayworks, Auburn State University Gallery, Auburn, AL
2015 Three Wheel Studio Tea-pot Exhibition, Three Wheel Studio, Providence, RI
2014 BIG GAME, A Solo Exhibition, S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, Savannah, GA
2014 Mixing and Metaling in Clay Invitational, The Gallery at ArtWorks, Beaufort, SC
2013 The Tea Room Mug Invitational, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Possession, A National Juried Exhibition, Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN
2013 Ignis Fatuus: Macsimizing Krazy, A Solo Exhibition, Objet d’art Gallery, Norcross, GA
2012 The Clay Cup: Icon, Vessel, Canvas. A National Juried Exhibition, George Caleb Bingham Gallery, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Honors and Awards
Distinguished Part Time Faculty Member of the Year Award, AASU, 2013-2104
Emerging Artist for Musing About Mud, 2014 Artist of the Month, Handbuilders Monthly, 2016
Best of Show, Sweet and Slippery Slope, Clay Arts Vegas, NV 2016
Emerging Artist, Ceramics Monthly. 2018
Workshops , Lectures, Volunteer Work
ArtAxis Presenter, National Clay Week. 2018
Lecture/Presenter, The Art of Otherness, NCECA, 2018
Lecture/Workshop Augusta University 2018
Lecture/Presenter, Gendered Clay, NCECA, Future Flux, 2017
Instructor, Creative Sculpture, WildAcres Retreat, NC 2013-16
Lecture/Artist Talk, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA 2015, 2016
Penland Auction Volunteer 2015, 2016 Penland Community Days Volunteer, 2016-17
Publications/Articles
Elephant Warriors and Interactive Ceramics, Savannah Art Informer, August, 2014
Environmental Awareness, Connect Savannah, July 2014
Big Game, Savannah Tribune, June 2014
Ceramics Arts 2016 Yearbook, Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated 2016
Five Trans Trailblazers You’ve Never Heard Of, Care 2 Causes, November 2016
Mac McCusker’s Nonbinary Heroes- BurnAway, June 2016
NCECA Journal, Future Flux, March 2017
Social Objects, Socially Engaged Craft Collective Publication, 2017
Trans-Action Art, Studio Potter, 2017
Ceramics Monthly, Exposure, February, 2018
Ceramics Monthly, Emerging Artist, 2018
Amazing Glaze, Gabriel Kline, 2018
