Artist Bio

Teresa Frisch was born in 1994 and has spent most of her life growing up in Illinois. In high school she discovered her love for clay and once she started college, she really started to develop her skills for ceramics. After getting her Associates of Fine Arts at Lewis and Clark Community College, Teresa transferred to Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville to pursue her Bachelors. At SIUE, she discovered her love for high, atmospheric firings, especially salt and soda firings. As a ceramic major, she was also a proud and active member of the university’s club, the Wagner’s Potters Association, and held the position of vice president from 2019 to 2020. In May of 2020 Teresa graduated from SIUE, but due to corona virus did not have her thesis exhibition until August of 2020. 
At a young age Teresa started traveling with her family. This inspired her love for traveling and living life to the fullest. She has now not only traveled around the United states, but has also been to ten countries. In her international travels, she stumbled upon an Italian ceramic master by the name of Battista Rea. In 2018 she spent one-month, and again in 2019 for three months, working with him in Italy, studying raku and raku dolce style firings, along with the technique of mosaic making. However, in her travels, Teresa is most inspired by the sea and coral reefs. In her ceramic work, she creates functional pottery and sculptures, that are being taken over by coral and barnacles. This derives from her thinking of the human body as a vessel, and the sea life that takes over that vessel, as obstacles. She believes all life is as beautiful as the sea, but as fragile as coral reefs. In life people are faced with trials and it is these obstacles that make a person stronger and more beautiful.