Carrie Anne Parks

Carrie Anne began working with clay at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA, where she completed a B.F.A. in ceramics and drawing. Following college, she worked as an apprentice to potter Takeo Sudo in Mashiko, Japan. She then earned an M.F.A., with an emphasis in ceramic sculpture, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. In 1982, she joined the faculty of Alma College in Alma, MI, where she taught sculpture, ceramics, 3-D design and drawing. There, she often had opportunities to collaborate with her students on tile installations for the College and other area schools and completed a number of large-scale tile installations of her own. Carrie Anne’s figurative drawings and ceramic sculptures have been exhibited nationally and are included in numerous books on contemporary ceramics. An NEA Regional Visual Arts Fellowship in 1994 allowed her to study architectural tile work and sculpture in Italy. Recently, her work has won awards in the Cheongju International Craft Competition in Cheongju, Korea and the Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition in Peoria, IL. In 2015, she relocated to her hometown, Chattanooga, where she has set up a new studio and teaches part-time at Scenic City Clay Arts. In 2020, she was honored to serve as a master artist for the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Master/Apprentice program.