Stephanie Rozene is an American ceramic artist who is dedicated to the advancement of and development in the field of Ceramics, Craft History and Contemporary Theory. Her work investigates the use of historical ornament and pattern in order to develop a visual language focusing on translating political rhetoric into visual rhetoric. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics and craft history from NSCAD University (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in ceramics and printmaking from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, USA. She is currently an Associate Professor of Art, Ceramics Studio Head and Co-Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Hartwick College in upstate New York, USA.

Her work has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally including group and solo* exhibitions notably at The Everson Museum of Art*, Syracuse, NY, The New Bedford Museum of Art (NCECA 2015) New Bedford, MA, Tim Cobb Fine Arts Gallery* (NCECA 2016) Milwaukee, WI, Sherri Gallery at SOFA Chicago 2013, Anna Leonowens Gallery*, Halifax, NS Canada, Warehouse Gallery*, Syracuse NY, Munson Williams Proctor Museum, Utica, NY, Gloria Kennedy Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC, Harvard Ceramics, Boston, MA and Red Star Studios in Kansas City, MO.

Rozene is the recipient of numerous awards, grants and artist residencies most notably from The Watershed Center of Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, ME, The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary, 1st prize in the Concordia University Biennial Continental Ceramics Exhibition, Concordia University, MN, The Klien Foundation Research Grant from Bowling Green State University, OH, a nomination for the Horizon Award at the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC. Her support from Hartwick College includes numerous Faculty Research Grants, Foreman Institute of Creative and Performing Arts Grants as well as the Milne Family Fund, The Winifred D. Wandersee Scholar in Residence award and sabbatical award which is supporting her residencies in Hungary, France and Maine this year.

The Patterns of Political Rhetoric

Stephanie Rozene’s research and art making focuses on the exploration of personal relationships through use, and the role that pottery form plays in communicating meaning.

She makes work in the form of the utilitarian pot but is inspired by and grounded in conceptual, historical and theoretical approaches to ornament, form, use and meaning. Through the medium of ceramics ( and with special attention to specific patterns, architectural ornaments and forms) she explores the politics of French and American dinnerware and traces international developments in this medium from presidential China back to the reigns of French Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI.

In this body of work she also utilizes Hungarian textile and architectural patterns to use in contrast to the extravagance of the Royal French ornamentation. By extrapolating patterns from these source materials Rozene creates a new visual rhetoric that speaks not only to national and international identities but also to the extravagances which governments employ in order to maintain their identities.

Rozene’ current body of work Les motifs de la  rhétorique politique continues her investigation into tableware and American politics, with particular focus on the offensive rhetoric being employed by many politicians during the current US election cycle.

Using the rich history of porcelain in Europe, where tableware was used as currency, a white arcanum, in the second half of the 18th century to demonstrate power and wealth, Rozene asks the viewer to investigate pattern as a visual language reflecting culture, use, spending, consumerism, conflict and excess promoted through offensive rhetoric.
Through symbolism, history and political rhetoric Rozene raises the question of money’s corrosive use in politics and whether or not our politicians are representative of the electorate.