On Wednesday, February 8th SMA Executive Director Scott Malbaurn hosted a Creative Industries Discussion with visiting artist Anna Kruse. Kruse was the Fall VAST resident and is currently teaching ceramics at SOU.

Anna Kruse received her Master of Fine Arts at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She completed a Post Baccalaureate at the Oregon College of Art and Craft before moving to Maine to work at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. She obtained her B.A. with honors in Psychology and Studio Art from the College of Wooster. Anna is the Visiting Artist Scholar and Teacher in ceramics at Southern Oregon University. In 2021 she was nominated and awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture. She was invited to be a resident artist at Township 10 during the summer of 2020 and recently completed a residency at Peninsula College. Anna has shown her work in Ohio, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Learn more at annakruse.com

“Ceramic objects explore play, communication, and our relationships in the world. The work presents opportunities of interaction through enclosed spaces that incite moments of connection. Combining a visual dialogue of tubes, playground equipment, and gardens, abstract pieces are constructed in order to be completed through the interjection of the body. The work is not done until someone uses it, imbuing the objects with functionality. Scream, laugh, yell, whisper secrets to another; these objects present a fictional world that invites you to be curious and examine how you move through your surroundings. ” – Anna Kruse