Mike Stumbras is a resident of Oak Park, Illinois Chicago. Since his youth, the artistic yet practical characteristics of pottery has intrigued and motivated Mike to push the envelope of modern pottery by experimenting with unconventional forms and colors in his Pots. His passion for both the creative potential within art and the infinitely complex concepts of the natural sciences create a dynamic and unfamiliar yet close and intimate feel in his work.

"My work operates on personal narrative. It functions to satisfy a linguistic and semiotic urge to understand my own story, as well as to promote participation. Both drawings and words are presented without an inherent context and are set back behind a thin veil of glaze. Here, they function as signifiers, adapted by personal schemata and guided by my own emotional interjections to produce a clear sign: a story. My work attempts to eschew skill traditionally associated with craft in favor of an idiosyncratic celebration of passion. The functionality of my work caters to accessibility-allowing ownership and use to facilitate the identification of the object as a discrete unit of meaning. My cocktail of glazes -four to six per piece- are tended to and formulated with care by myself. They are spray applied and fired to either cone six or eight in oxidation. I really like making these things for you, so I hope you like them back!" -Mike Stumbras

http://mikestumbras.com/home.html