Maxwell Mustardo was born in 1993 in rural New Jersey. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Art History and Theory from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2017. His dual theses focused on issues of materiality in ceramics.

Max has earned multiple awards for his work including an Award of Excellence from the James Renwick Alliance, an ARGUS grant for materials research, a Levine Endowment grant to study material culture in Japan & South Korea, and as the SUNY finalist in the visual arts category for the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts as an undergraduate student. His current practice encompasses scholarly writing, curation, teaching, design, and sculpture. He has been a resident artist at the Takaezu Studio, the Mendocino Art Center, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, the Sonoma Community Center, the New Harmony Clay Project, & currently at the C.R.E.T.A. Rome International Center.

Notes from the Artist

I approach making as a vital opportunity to examine perception and signification. My work engages with ceramics as a polyphonic medium: one that speaks in multiple registers simultaneously. By working within simple constraints, such as the format of the mug, vase, or torus, I explore orchestrating elements of surface, form, materiality, and function. Many projects revolve around broad, reverential notions of the vessel, the body, and language. Often the familiar is made unusual and the repulsive strangely seductive. Attempts are made to continually dissect processes, revisit forms, and reframe themes to agitate evolution and antagonize static thinking. Objects are focused upon as vital witnesses and participants, reflections and poems, animate and imagined.

Instagram: @maxwellmustardo

https://www.mustardom.com/