Daniel Clauson
Daniel is a Queer and Trans Artist focusing mostly in ceramics. Through ceramics they create bodily forms that resist the limitations of biological and systematic structure, and reach towards an empathetic, critical, and political Figurative form. Dan utilizes their past experiences of gender dysphoria, relationships, and ‘home’ to influence their work. Connecting contradicting ideas of love and pain, trauma and acceptance, intimacy and ambiguity. From the University of Washington, Daniel received a Bachelors in Art with Honors in the 3D4M department, as well as a minor in Art History. Daniel has attended both the University of Colorado (Boulder) and the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) as a Post Baccalaureate in ceramics. They have been an artist in Residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Fall 2022), Rockland in the Woods (Fall 2023), Sonoma Ceramics (2023), and is the recipient of the Emily Mason - Wolf Kahn Fellowship for residency at Vermont Studio Center (2024). They have had multiple solo exhibitions throughout the United states, and have been selected for group juried shows for their work in ceramics, drawing, and writing.
I met Mandi in my last year of undergraduate study at the University of Washington. I had seen her work and felt drawn to her sensitivities of touch and color, and then found out she was looking for an assistant. Working with Mandi on tri-axle blends and the beautiful subtleties of grey were the building blocks of our connection. Throughout the years, Mandi has greatly helped me in finding opportunities to keep pursuing my ceramic practice, and she has remained a steady support in the turbulent and transitional times of my artistic career.