Dante Gambardella

Dante Gambardella has long been interested in working with and teaching about the use of local materials in contemporary ceramics. Following in the path of Frances Senska and former teacher Josh DeWeese, he seeks to incorporate locally sourced clay into functional pottery. The mindful selection of materials that compose his functional pieces is tied directly to the precious resources they carry. Dante’s love of local material was further deepened by a residency in Mashiko, Japan, where clay was on every hillside, making it easy to imagine a time when local materials were used out of necessity. Dante believes that utilizing local resources is a key step to reducing one’s ecological footprint, and it has become a large part of his ceramic practice.

During Dante’s travels to South Korea, he learned the unique skill of ceramic furniture making from artist Hun Chung Lee, allowing him to increase the scale of his work and bring paintings to the walls of his pieces. The paintings on his work directly correlate to observed compositions from his small organic farm, emphasizing the importance of clean resources and respect for land and climate. He is dedicated to making pieces that can brave the elements of Montana winters, and looks forward to seeing them happily obscured by snow.