staleymorell

Arschel J. Morell
Bio Statement: I am a retired government employee, and became interested in bonsai in the late 50's after reading an article in Popular Mechanics Magazine. Unable to find other literature or instruction, my love for the art lay dormant until the early 70's when I found my primary teacher, Clifton Pottberg, a self taught artist leaving in northern Baltimore County. Three years of study and workshops with noted American bonsai artist led to positions of President and Educational Vice-President for the Baltimore Bonsai Club and the Potomac Bonsai Association, a regional bonsai group. Currently I am Educational Vice-President of the Baltimore Bonsai Club, teaching and maintaining two private bonsai collections in the Baltimore area. I also volunteer at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C.

Artist Statement: I like to create bonsai from materials that are indigenous to this Temperate Zone. Most of the trees in my collection are collected from the wild or purchased from nurseries that collect or secure collected trees from other sources. I work with all styles and create most of my bonsai based on trees that I have seen in the wild or in fantasies. I see bonsai as an art form and as such, conducive to this kind of non-traditional treatment. Art is always evolving, changing, so is nature. Since bonsai is a living art form it is ripe for change from its traditional point of view.

Chris Staley + Arschel Morell
Chris Staley Bio statement: Chris Staley is a Professor and head of the Ceramics Area at Penn State University, where he has taught since 1990. He received an MFA from Alfred , a BFA from Wittenberg University and was a Special Student at Kansas City Art Institute. Honors include two NEA Visual Artist Fellowship Grants, and his work has been the focus of a number of solo exhibitions, five with Garth Clark Gallery. He has been featured in group exhibitions and led workshops around the United States and abroad, and his work can be found in numerous permanent collections, including the Smithsonian¹s Renwick Gallery. Artist's statement: The essence of making pots for me is about being human. It's about fragility and strength. It's about the intimate moment when the handle of a cup touches the hand. Pots are about potential. Pots can create a world of slow- time where meaning can be found. It is a notable experience to use pots that exude the soul of the maker. All of our senses are engaged in this experience. Very few things can be touched and leave one a different person. It is the paradox of who is touching whom that gives pots their greatest potential.
		Click here for a detail of the image above. Untitled glazed stoneware 11.5 l x 6.5 w x 5h Bonsai Tree Information: Botanical Name: Juniperus Chinensis var.' Sargentii' Common Name: Sargent juniper Style: Informal Upright Estimated Age: 10 years Time in training: 5 years
		Arschel J. Morell Bio Statement: I am a retired government employee, and became interested in bonsai in the late 50's after reading an article in Popular Mechanics Magazine. Unable to find other literature or instruction, my love for the art lay dormant until the early 70's when I found my primary teacher, Clifton Pottberg, a self taught artist leaving in northern Baltimore County. Three years of study and workshops with noted American bonsai artist led to positions of President and Educational Vice-President for the Baltimore Bonsai Club and the Potomac Bonsai Association, a regional bonsai group. Currently I am Educational Vice-President of the Baltimore Bonsai Club, teaching and maintaining two private bonsai collections in the Baltimore area. I also volunteer at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. Artist Statement: I like to create bonsai from materials that are indigenous to this Temperate Zone. Most of the trees in my collection are collected from the wild or purchased from nurseries that collect or secure collected trees from other sources. I work with all styles and create most of my bonsai based on trees that I have seen in the wild or in fantasies. I see bonsai as an art form and as such, conducive to this kind of non-traditional treatment. Art is always evolving, changing, so is nature. Since bonsai is a living art form it is ripe for change from its traditional point of view.

Chris Staley + Arschel Morell