BIOGRAPHY

Lynne (Lynn) Turner was born in Leavenworth, Kansas and grew up in the Midwest until moving to Portland, OR for her sophomore year of high school. She received a BA in art from Whitman College and an MFA in Ceramics from Mills College. Lynne lived and worked in her Berkeley studio, Quicksilver Pottery, from 1977 to 1988. A skilled potter, she taught traditional ceramics part-time at both Chabot and Ohlone Colleges although her studio work was slip cast.

 Lynne was strongly influenced by the aesthetics and forms of Ron Nagle with whom she studied in 1973-74. She was also influenced by ancient art from Africa, China, and Oceana and by Degas’ pastels. A self-taught slip caster, she refined her technique with a trip to Stoke-on-Trent financed by an NEA grant. Color is a major focus of her work as well as changes in proportion and juxtaposition of forms. She created a unique surface using a highly fluxed clay slip and ceramic stains. She had been glazing her pieces but saw that the color was stronger at the unglazed edges. She had seen Robert Hudson and Richard Shaw’s 1973 show at SF MOMA and decided to leave her surface unglazed as they had done. True to her roots as a studio potter, she formulated her own slips and glazes, and fired her works at high temperatures in a gas kiln.

 Lynne received a major career boost in 1980 when the Smithsonian Institution and American Crafts Museum sponsored shows that traveled throughout the US for three years. She was invited to participate in major exhibitions and gallery shows throughout the US and in Japan and marketed a line of production pieces through the American Crafts Enterprises fairs. Her porcelain is represented in major private and museum collections including the Renwick Collection of the Smithsonian.

 After closing her studio, Lynne worked as an editor at UC Berkeley and once vested, returned to art full-time. Her current practice includes photography and digital prints based on her photos though she continues to explore different media. She lives in Emeryville, CA and shows both photographs and prints in their annual Celebration of the Arts.