Robert Archambeau: The potter's potter
Robert Archambeau describes his work with clay as "a distillation of the magic and mystery" that surrounds him. When pressed, the Manitoba artist reluctantly shares the credit for his creativity with his rugged and natural environment in the Canadian Shield.
At their "best," Archambeau says of his wood-fired ceramics, they are "serene, rich in detail, detached from the mundane and timeless." Many would argue he regularly reaches that superlative in the elegant simplicity of his monolithic vessel-form creations.
Included in major collections at such cultural institutions as the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and featured in special exhibitions across Canada and in Japan, Archambeau's work has earned a glowing array of adjectives, from classic and unpretentious to serene, inspiring and Zen-like.
Highly influenced by the aesthetic traditions of Japan, China and Korea, the man revered as the potter's potter considers his passion for manipulating clay a lifelong vocation.
Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1933, he joined the U.S. Marines Corps at the age of 17. Four years later, he landed a factory job and saved enough money to pursue university studies.
In 1959, he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio followed by a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, N.Y. in 1964.
After spending four years teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design, Archambeau arrived in Canada in 1968 when he joined the faculty at the University of Manitoba's School of Art and eventually became a full professor and head of the ceramics department until his retirement in 1991.
Manitoba (which was also home to his paternal grandfather) proved to be Archambeau's muse. From his lakefront studio surrounded by woods in Bissett - a tiny community just over 250 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg - he draws from the earth to produce bowls, vases, teapots and lidded containers imbued with nature's gentle palette of tones and hues, and adorned with "layers of delicious nuances," as one reviewer described, "like a gourmet chef."
A true original, Archambeau is admired around the world as a master in his field and celebrated in Canada as a legend in ceramics. In 2003, he became the first Manitoban to win the prestigious Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. "While functional and strongly rooted in their earthly origins," said the jury citation, "his ceramic pieces achieve a quiet serenity of breathtaking and timeless beauty."
- Christopher Guly