Robert Chapman Turner: Artist, Teacher, Explorer

Robert Turner (1913-2005) arrived at Black Mountain College in 1949 to establish the first studio pottery program at the College. He worked with student architect Paul Williams to design the Potshop and stayed until 1951 as a teacher and potter. There he formed lifelong friendships with M.C. Richards, Joe Fiore, and Natasha Goldowski Renner, and was part of the lively mix of art and ideas generated by Clement Greenberg, Katherine Litz, Kenneth Noland, Theodoros Stamos, and many others. Turner’s education prior to his arrival at Black Mountain included Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Barnes Foundation, Penland School of Crafts, and Alfred University. 

After leaving Black Mountain in 1951, Turner and his family moved to Alfred Station, NY where they bought a farm, and he established a successful studio pottery practice exhibiting his work in galleries across the U.S. In 1958 he began teaching pottery and sculpture at The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University where he taught in the ceramics program until his retirement in 1979. In addition to his influential teaching position at Alfred, Turner taught at Penland, Haystack, and Anderson Ranch helping a new generation of artists and potters develop their work and garnering a reputation as a gifted teacher.

Robert Turner’s travels with his wife Sue to Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa in 1971-72 and to the American Southwest many times over the years proved to be centrally important life experiences and pivotal to his growth as an artist. Over his lifetime he received many honors and awards for his work; his humble, gentle demeanor and Quaker background helped keep him centered and open to ongoing exploration and discovery in nature and life.

The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues at BMC, Alfred University, and Penland as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Artists include: Meredith Brickell, Cynthia Bringle, Marjorie Dial, Cynthia Homire, Bill C. Jones, Bobby Kadis, Karen Karnes, Eric Knoche, Jeannine Marchand, Neil Noland, Daniel Rhodes, M.C. Richards, Gay Smith, Tom Spleth, Adele Suska, Lydia C. Thompson, Xavier Toubes, Jerilyn Virden, Peter Voulkos, David Weinrib, Megan Wolfe, Marguerite Wildenhain, and Kensuke Yamáda.

I wanted to work with clay so that the way it moved, the vitality of clay, is not meeting something that’s been on the drawing board. It’s using clay with abstraction to start with and then seeing what it’s going to do, how it will move and change, and always surprise you.

Curated by Alice Sebrell, Director of Preservation