The studio and gallery are relatively clean and organized. There’s lots of new work – especially cups. Today and tomorrow, May 6 and 7, the doors will be flung wide open, my world-famous, oatmeal raisin chocolate cookies will be out, and I’ll be welcoming visitors from 10 to 4 including those on the Maine Pottery Tour.  It looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous weekend! Other friends and colleagues participating in the Tour this weekend include Miki Glasser right near by, Kyla Cech (Appleton), Jody Johnstone (Swanville), and Betsy Levine (Liberty). And of course, there’s always great food and snacks at the Lincolnville Center General Store right next door!

If you can’t make it out for the Tour, you’re always welcome to call or text (207)975-3456 to set up an appointment, or to check to see if I’m here and available ’cause you’re right at the end of the driveway!

Hope to see you soon!

Siem

My work has to do with ideas of home, family, and our relationship to nature.

I use materials such as clay, paint, and found objects to explore these subjects. Girding these ideas is an overarching sense of responsibility as an artist to bring light to the ineffable, to play my role as pioneer and mediator between the known and unknown.

For the most part, I work alone in my studio.  Solitude allows me to engage in processes that require concentration and clarity. However, I have come to realize that much of the energy and motivation to sustain this practice comes from direct and meaningful engagement with the world outside my studio. Working alone has never meant working in isolation. The people in my life mean the world to me. Family, former students, artistic colleagues, my  community of friends keep me company in the studio – sometimes physically but most often in spirit and memory. Their wisdom and experience, the energy of their lives, form the periphery of my quiet contemplation.

In my studio, I get to travel. By engaging with materials and processes (drawing, carving, throwing, printing, painting, etc), I go places that my mind may not go on its own. Most often, I’m well into a body of work before having any clear idea what it’s about. Sometimes I don’t know what’s important about the work until long after it’s finished.  I very seldom begin with an idea and make work to illustrate the idea. That’s like having an idea of a place and going there with the sole intent of confirming that idea.

Download my CV.

I follow these threads through my life: making things, cooking, drawing, sailing, teaching, being a father (the very best work I’ve been a part of). I have never let go of the stage in which I learn from my fingertips inward.

My undergraduate degree is in printmaking with a minor in sculpture. I worked as a goldsmith and carpenter/builder before becoming an award winning high school art teacher. Seventeen years in the classroom were interrupted only by a year-long sabbatical in the south of France, where I worked in Atelier Buffile and studied painting and critical theory at the Marchutz School. Later, while still teaching, I earned an MFA with a concentration in ceramics and drawing.

I’ve taught as an adjunct professor at University of Maine Augusta, U-Rock, and Unity College and have facilitated numerous workshops. I’ve been a resident artist at Anderson Ranch, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

As an artist, my work has won awards in several national juried competitions. It is held in both private and public collections including the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, the Canton Museum of Fine Arts, and Harrisburg Community College.

Currently, I live and work in Lincolnville Center, Maine with my wife Kate Braestrup. We share loving six grown children.