Shane Brodie
Sculptor and potter
Sculpture and pottery
Statement
Currently, my main goal as an artist is to communicate what I and other queer and trans people feel and experience. I express this through representational work and more abstract work with curvature, gesture, and junctures. I particularly love bas reliefs which are both 2D and 3D. They are in-between, liminal, and piercing through different layers.
In general, I'm obsessed with our idiosyncrasies, grounded soul work, and survival strategies.
Art CV/Bio
I was born in Minnesota and raised everywhere. When people ask where I'm from, I'm not sure how to answer them, but I have spent a lot of time in the wilds of Canada, Alaska, Hawai'i and the West Coast of the Lower48. I'm a sensualist, an emerging early career artist, a radio host, a multi-issue activist, a documentarian, and a genderqueer trans man (he/they). I started socially and medically transitioning about 30 years ago in the bad old days and I am very sad to see that we are repeating those same mistakes of social harassment and state oppression of trans people.
EDUCATION
I have a GED, an undergraduate degree in geology and a graduate degree theology, along with less formal education in cob building, wood carving, knife making, wool processing, bookmaking, baking (mostly traditional Viennese and French pastry and cakes), and cheesemaking. I love making different kinds of cheese because it's part art and science.
CERAMICS
Within my ceramics practice, I've taken sculpture and glaze chemistry courses with well-known Bay Area artists, made and sold commissioned tiles, functional pottery sets, and life-sized figurative sculptures. I've also completed work exchanges as a studio tech and as a teaching assistant in welding safety and beginning wheel thrown pottery community college courses. I've also reclaimed tons of clay as part of my duties and because I'm poor!
KILNS
I've loaded and unloaded electric and gas kilns at busy college and community studios and helped monitor wood, soda and salt firings. A 50+ year old salt kiln needed repairs so I welded steel plates to it so that a community college ceramics department could keep it in use. I also helped construct, prep wood for, and fire a woodfired kiln with a Bourry style firebox.
SHOWINGS
I've shown and sold work at three meetings of the annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts in Davis CA, a couple of Rocky Mountain Equality pridefests in Colorado, and was picked for one of the Slice of the Bay Area shows at the Pence Gallery juried by members of the Sacramento Arts Commission.
Contact Info
Please feel free to contact me using the buttons below. And thanks for stopping by!
For information about some of the activism I've been involved with see my activism page at (...coming soon!)
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© Shane Brodie. All rights reserved.