Alisa "Al" Holen, MFA, Ceramics

Alisa (AL) Holen is a Minnesota native, and a 2004 graduate from the University of Iowa. Following her MFA, Holen taught at several Colleges and Universities in the Midwest, including UW LaCrosse, UN Omaha and the University of Iowa. Her work “Chopstix Bowls” was featured on the 2010 cover of the prestigious Strictly Functional Pottery National catalog, and won the jurors award for “Best Thrown and Altered” work. Holen’s work appears in numerous sculptural and functional juried exhibitions from New York to California, Minnesota to Louisiana. She had her first major solo exhibition in November, 2011 at the Ohr/ O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, MS.

Holen has presented at the last two NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) Conferences, and continues to bring awareness to the Clay Arts through her philanthropic work with Empty Bowls.

“Function always acts as a springboard in the ceramic work that I create. There is something immensely satisfying about finding artistic solutions to functional problems. It is the obscure solutions that bring me the most joy. I am also interested in creating dialogues and relationships between forms, giving special attention to the shapes and textures, swells and voids of their interactions.”