Paul S. Briggs

MFA ’16 Fine Arts 3D

Art making gives me scope to philosophize concretely. Formally, balance, the paradox of inside and outside, often architectural structural references and materiality all serve as metaphors in my work. Ultimately, I am interested in the development of interiority on a continuum with exteriority. Equilibrium and balance appear where it seems none can be attained. Philosophically, aesthetically, my work primarily critiques values and traditions, broadly defined, where they impede the possibility of ongoing equanimity. I present equanimity, or the lack thereof, as compositional balance. My work has reflected me in society, dramatizing what I think, feel, and imagine about the world in relation to my life, our existence.







Paul was reared in New York’s Hudson Valley, beginning ceramics in 9th grade. Ceramics was the one place where his attention was not disturbed.  His thinking about art objects as material shapes began as an undergraduate at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Paul has studied and taught education, ceramics, and theology, earning his PhD at Penn State and his MFA at MassArt.  Paul teaches Ceramic Art at Alfred University.

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