Stanton Hunter exhibits his work nationally and internationally. Writings and images about his work as well as articles authored by him appear in numerous books and publications, including Ceramics Art & Perception, American Craft, Ceramics Monthly, and Studio Potter. He has been an instructor and guest lecturer at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, ran the ceramics program at Scripps College in Claremont for five years, and was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Pitzer College, also in Claremont. From 2005 - 2024 he was a Professor of Art at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He’s currently focusing on artist’s residencies, writing, and offering workshops nationally.
Prior to receiving his MFA from the University of Southern California (where he was a TA for Ken Price), and studying glaze technology at Otis College of Art and Design with Ralph Bacerra, Stanton did his undergraduate work in perceptual psychology/alternative education at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and studied classical trumpet and music theory at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
Bio
My introduction and initial love of ceramics centered around the vessel, both functional and as art object. The satisfaction of making something useful, the intimacy of these objects with hands and mouths, the never-ending contemplation of form and ergonomics, where design and sustenance intersect – all of this will never grow old for me.
In graduate school I started exploring groupings, installations, and especially site-specific installations. These inquiries triggered in me a somatic awareness of space/environment, and a sense of wonder. I began placing work in a way where a gallery remained a gallery, a hallway a hallway, or a field a field, but suggested an overlay of another time, place, or occurrence. It felt powerful, and a bit theatrical.
The feeling of being able to walk through a work of art, and sometimes notice ways in which the environment might change the work or vice versa, opened new vistas for me. Rather than standing apart among static elements, I was enveloped, sometimes spatially, sometimes conceptually, in a reciprocal space. Foreground and background aren't usually a topic of three-dimensional work, and I find it invigorating to explore this connection between art and where it's shown, how each might transform the other, as well as the larger field it refers to.
My hope is that this kind of exploration gives others a more alive sense of the environment they find themselves in, a sort of foreground/background reversal, where context becomes more a player.