2025, 16" x 10" x 8", Media: Non-clay, Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed
From the "Propagation" exhibition. New ceramic work revisiting an older series of mixed media works (photography, encaustic, found objects) inspired by an abandoned greenhouse in the Dutch village where I once lived. The new ceramic works reference the tools and utilitarian vessels I remember from the site. Lead wire and recycled hand tool handle.
2025, variable, Media: Mixed Media, Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed, Non-ceramic
Installation view : Propagation at Gallery 224, Harvard Ceramics . Ceramic pails and hand tools in the background accompany 2D works made years earlier referencing the abandoned greenhouse in The Netherlands that helped me connect with a new home in a foreign land. The original 2D works (photography & encaustic) incorporate wood, glass, wire and other materials salvaged from the greenhouse. The new ceramic works also incorporate salvaged tool handles and lead wire .
2025, 16" x 12" x8" each, Media: Non-clay, Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed
From the Propagation exhibition. New ceramic work revisiting an older series of mixed media works (photography, encaustic, found objects) inspired by an abandoned greenhouse in the Dutch village where I once lived. The new ceramic works reference the tools and utilitarian vessels I remember from the site.
2021, 11.5" x 12.75" x 4.75", Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed, Image transfer / Decals / Screenprint
My response to place. Inspired by a bridge over the Mississippi River, the island where I lived and maps of the river drawn by the French explorer the island is named for. Underglaze transfer of 1630's map of the Mississippi drawn by Joseph Nicollet.
2021, 11" x 10" x 3", Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed
From the Future Relics series. Referencing both swage blocks and industrial castings, this work reinterprets industrial forms as elegant, refined and ambiguous objects allowing the viewer to freely interpret the forms, the markings and their meanings.
2021, 10" x 10.5" x 5.5", Media: Non-clay, Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed, Non-ceramic
From the FutureMy response to place. Inspired by a bridge over the Mississippi River, the island where I lived and maps of the river drawn by the French explorer the island is named for. The form is an abstracted spelter socket which is the cable connection used to support the bridge decking. 1/5" all thread rod with nut and rubber washer.
2013, To 13" x 3.5" x 1.5", Media: Mixed Media, Porcelain, Stoneware, Firing Process: Low-fire, Surface: Non-ceramic, Unglazed
Materials study: Materials such as wood, steel, glass and clay have implied meanings and characteristics ranging from strength and flexibility to transparency and fragility. What happens when the use of an object is contradicted by the materials it is made from? Press molded stoneware top jaws are reinstalled into vintage metal pipe wrench handles.
2021, 8" x 8" x 3" each, Media: Non-clay, Porcelain, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Relief
Inspired by a somewhat nomadic lifestyle, USGS markers and WPA plaques, I created my own system of way finding markers. Large porcelain markers reference electric meters, water gauges and other utility infrastructure. The symbols are arbitrary and intentionally ambiguous asking the viewer to interpret their intent and what is actually being marked. Porcelain markers are set into custom fabricated aluminum housings.
2016, 8.25" x 6.25" x 1.25", Media: Colored porcelain, Porcelain, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Relief, Unglazed
Museum installation of 32 ceramic handguns with opposing points of view in the gun debate stamped into the barrel of each gun. Addressing issues of personal freedom, race, domestic violence and mental illness among others, Recoil asks the viewer to consider an alternative viewpoint and seeks to start a long overdue conversation about gun violence and gun rights in the United States. Stained porcelain handguns gradate from pure white through gray to black illustrating that there is no clear right or wrong, only shades of gray
2024, 5" x 3.5" x 1.5" Each, Media: Porcelain, Stoneware, Firing Process: Reduction, Soda fired, Surface: Glazed
From the ongoing "Hooch" series. Inspired by the old tools, bottles, cans and oddities I remember from my great grandfather's garage. Ceramic flasks with rubber stoppers for easy beverage transport .
Artist Statement
My approach to art-making is grounded in my design training and the belief that the best solutions often emerge from the problems themselves. Allowing each project to evolve naturally through a process of inquiry, research and immersion, I interpret and distill visual opportunities into solutions that are specific, unique and meaningful. Tempered by a minimalist approach, and working primarily in clay, I am a hand builder using, slabs and molds to create both sculptural and functional works.Â
Growing up in the Midwest, I was drawn to the quiet beauty of abandoned buildings, worn tools, and industrial remnants—elements that continue to inform my visual vocabulary. My recent work explores themes of mobility and my personal response to place. Influenced by bridge trusses, industrial castings, and USGS survey markers, my ceramic sculptures reinterpret these industrial forms as elegant, refined and ambiguous objects. Firing in both wood and soda kilns introduces an element of unpredictability, allowing natural variation and atmospheric effects to become integral to the final work. This balance between control and chance is central to my practice, echoing the tension between structure and impermanence.
Bio
Tom Hubbard is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose practice includes ceramics, mixed media, and public art installations. Characterized by a minimalist approach, his work often explores themes of loss, and the effects of mobility or reinterprets industrial forms as elegant, ambiguous objects. Hubbard is a staff member of the Ceramics Program at Harvard University where he teaches, leads workshops, and maintains a studio. Born in San Francisco, CA and holding a BFA from Indiana University, Hubbard grew up in the Midwest and lived in Maine, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia and The Netherlands. He currently resides in Massachusetts with his wife and a rescue dog from Mississippi.