Michigan-based ceramist Daniel Bare, who draws inspiration for his work from landfills, recycling bins and thrift stores, discusses his latest project, “Re/Claim,” in a Lawrence University Visiting Artist Series address Monday, Nov. 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The presentation is free and open to the public.
Inspired by ceramic production villages in China, Bare’s “Re/Claim” project uses mostly post-consumer found ceramics to create new sculptures. 
Struck by the impact of overproduction, consumption and disposal of resources worldwide, Bare reinvents the role of commonplace, frequently discarded or forgotten items by turning them into new sculptures.
By reorganizing mass-produced items such as mugs, plates and other ceramic figurines into new structures, Bare lengthens the items’ lifecycles. Challenging the limits of ceramics and the boundary between hand-made and machine-made objects, he sees his work as a commentary on a wasteful culture and contemporary environmental concerns.
A recent resident artist at the Pottery Workshop in DeHua, China, Bare is a ceramics technician and ceramics instructor at Grand Valley State University and serves on the Exhibitions Committee of the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids. His artwork has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally.
