Arts Night Out with Justin Rothshank

Justin's Arts Night Out event is the second stop on his East Coast tour, which will bring him first to Harvard for a one-day workshop/lecture, then on to Pinch for ANO, and finish out with a Meet the Artist event at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, in tandem with the exhibit KNOW JUSTICE, which runs from September 10 to November 13. Justin will be traveling with Elenor Wilson, editor at Studio Potter, an Easthampton-based magazine and organization dedicated to bringing together the greater pottery community. Elenor will also be on hand during ANO to answer questions, and will be offering copies of Studio Potter free with purchase of Justin’s work.

Pinch has carried Justin Rothshank’s ceramic work since 2011. His mugs, bowls, plates, and platters feature presidents, political figures, and pop icons. We find Justin’s ceramics have perennial appeal, but his work is especially timely given the upcoming presidential election. Justin believes that artwork and creativity are a catalyst for social change and economic improvement as well as enhancing everyday lives with beauty. Art gives a voice to the voiceless, enables self-understanding, and provides a window into other cultures. These are among the reasons he has chosen to pursue a life as a working artist. 

During Justin’s Arts Night Out event, and throughout the month of October, Pinch will also be featuring select pieces from Justin’s newest work. These pots are mostly fired in atmospheric kilns designed to create natural ash effects on the surface of the pots. Decorated with imagery inspired by the natural world around him, in these pieces Justin is attempting to create layered surfaces, backgrounds and foregrounds, and horizon lines that relate to gardens, swamps, woods, and the natural environment.

Justin Rothshank has worked as a studio ceramic artist in Goshen, Indiana since 2009. In 2001 he co-founded the Union Project, a nonprofit organization located in Pittsburgh, PA. Justin’s ceramic work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, including articles in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, Studio Potter, The Log Book, and Neue Keramik. He has been a presenter, panelist, visiting artist, and artist-in-residence at numerous universities, schools, conferences, and art centers throughout the United States and abroad. His functional and decorative ceramic ware is available for purchase in more than two dozen galleries and gift shops around the country. Justin was presented with an Award of Excellence by the American Craft Council in February 2009. In 2007 he was recognized by Ceramics Monthly as an Emerging Artist. He has also been awarded an Alcoa Foundation Leadership Grant for Arts Managers, a 2007 Work of Art Award from Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, the 2005 Decade of Servant Leadership Award from Goshen College, and was named to Pittsburgh Magazine’s 40 under 40 in 2005.