The Frances Senska feature was originally published in our Copper Reds / Leach - Vol.8 No. 1, in June 1979.
Born and raised in Batanga, Cameroon, West Africa. Father a medical missionary, mother a teacher. Received BA and MA from the University of Iowa with an "art generalist" background. Later studied with Maija Grotell at Cranbrook, Moholy-Nagy and Gyorgy Kepes at the Institute of Design in Chicago, and with Edith Heath, Marguerite Wildenhain and Hal Riegger.
Still feels presence of early instructors in her approach to clay. "It was important then to learn to use the technology and the materials which were available to solve the problem - and that seems even more valid today." Came to Montana State University in 1946 to set up pottery department. First class built kilns and dug local materials for clay and glazes. Peter Voulkos was one of her earliest students. "Voulkos was notable for not being in class. He would come back with a sack of clay and say he'd been prospecting, but I knew he'd been fishing."
Retired from teaching in 1973 to set up independent studio. "I'm not wildly in favor of teaching methods or educational philosophy - if you've got something that you want to do, and you know how to do it well, and love it, then you can get that across." Primarily a maker of functional earthenware and stoneware. Fires in 20 cu. ft. Denver updraft gas fired kiln. Images on pots taken mostly from natural environment, with strong Aegean and African influences. Prefers to work with dark clay bodies.
"I prefer brown rice, brown sugar - all things not overly refined. I like elegance only in the sense the scientists use the term, meaning the most economically precise solution of a given problem."