Carl Beam (1943 - 2005)
Carl Beam RCA, born Carl Edward Migwans, made Canadian art history as the first artist of Native Ancestry (Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as Contemporary Art.
Beam minored in ceramic pottery at the Kootenay School of Art. Years later in 1980 while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Beam again became interested in handmade pottery via his exposure to Santa Clara pottery and Mimbres bowls that were made by the Anasazi who lived in the area centuries before.
His Mimbres bowls were fabricated as a modern version of the ancient Anasazi ones - on the interior they were generally cream colored and quite smooth whereas the exterior appeared almost disregarded and less important. Also in the Anasazi tradition, Beam's bowls typically featured a bold design around the rim with his own unique images placed in the center.
"Finally, one form I could use to be absolutely creative in … the hemispherical quality of a large bowl still excites me like no cup, tea pot, plate or other clay shape can do…it is a universe unto itself where anything can happen – the designs are limitless."
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