Jeff OESTREICH

View in collection Jeff Oestreich was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1947 and was introduced to ceramics by Warren MacKenzie while at university. After receiving his BA he was apprenticed to Bernard Leach at St. Ives for two years and returned to Minnesota in 1971. The philosophies of Leach and MacKenzie enabled Oestreich to examine critically the functional aspect of art in contemporary ceramics. The commitment to utility remains a strong influence in his work but he challenges the visual and physical parameters. Oestreich also relies on the historical influences in his glaze palette, with minimal surface decoration and firing methods drawing from Japanese and Chinese origins. His current work is thrown and altered, either by faceting, stretching, or cutting and rejoining. The majority of the pots are salt glazed. Jeff Oestreich’s is included in many international collections and the piece in this collection was acquired when he was a demonstrator at the International Ceramics Festival in Aberystywth in 1997.

Details

• Dates: b. 1947