Brother Thomas Bezanson (August 5, 1929 – August 16, 2007) was a Canadian-born artist and Benedictine monk primarily known for his porcelain pottery and mastery of complex glazes. Strongly influenced by Asian pottery, often adapting traditional Chinese and Japanese pottery methods and materials to his work.

Biography

Brother Thomas was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a descendant of Irish and Scottish families that had been in Nova Scotia for many generations. In 1950 he graduated from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He also spent some time in New York City studying at

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. From 1951–58 he both worked in business and was an advisor to the Nova Scotia Handcraft Century. He began working in pottery in 1953. In 1958–59 he traveled and studied in Europe. In 1959 he entered the Benedictine Monastery,

Weston Priory Weston Priory is a community of Benedictine monks who reside in Weston, Vermont, founded in 1953. The Priory is within the confines of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which encompasses the entirety of Vermont. They are particularly know ...

, in Weston, VT. In 1968 he graduated from University of Ottawa with a master's degree in Philosophy and a University Gold Medal. In 1976 he was a visiting lecturer at

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...

School of Ceramics. In 1978 he traveled in Japan and to Taipei. While in Japan he met with five " Living National Treasure (Japan)" potters. In 1983 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant. Since 1985 he has been the Artist-in-Residence, Mount Saint Benedict, Erie, Pennsylvania. He has had hundreds of exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world. His works are in over 80 museum collections. Brother Thomas is renowned for his original glaze recipes and perfect forms and always sought to create something new and beautiful. His exacting standards made for the shattering of over 80% of each firing. One "rescued" piece, however, is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Brother Thomas died at his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 16 August 2007. It was Brother Thomas' dream and vision to establish a Fund to help struggling artists, as he was helped in his life's journey. The Brother Thomas Fund was established under the auspices of the Boston Foundation upon the artist's death. Since 2007, proceeds from the sale of his work have gone into this Fund and in October 2009, the first eight Brother Thomas Fellowships were awarded to struggling, mid-career Boston artists in the amount of $15,000 each.

Exhibitions and honors

* National Endowment for the Arts Grant 1983 * Retrospective Exhibition Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA 1990 * Retrospective Exhibition

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...

, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1991

Known collections

* Aidekman Art Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA * Allen Art Museum,

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, Oberlin, OH * Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA (http://www.artcomplex.org/) *

, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Chicago, IL * Bunting Institute,

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

, Cambridge, MA * Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, Canada * Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA *

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

, Norfolk, VA * Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH * Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, NY * Davis Museum and Cultural Center,

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

, Wellesley, MA * Dimock Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, DC * Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY * Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT * Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA * Framingham State University, Framingham, MA * Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan * Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA * The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY * Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
note on acquisition
*

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, MA * Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ * Portland Museum of Art Portland, ME *

Pucker Gallery Pucker is a line of fruit-flavored liqueurs made by the DeKuyper company. By volume it is 15% alcohol (30 proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a mea ...

, Boston, MA *

Roberson Museum and Science Center The Roberson Museum and Science Center is located in Binghamton, New York. The museum's exhibits focus on art, local history, science, and natural history. History Roberson Memorial, Inc. was established by the will of Alonzo Roberson in 1934. ...

, Binghamton, NY * The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA *

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA * St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel * The

Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is a museum on the crest of Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel, dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art. It is the only such museum in the Middle East. It was established in 1959 on the initiati ...

, Haifa, Israel * University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA * Vatican Collection, Rome, Italy * Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England * Windsor Castle, Windsor, England * Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
note on acquisition
* Yale University, New Haven, CT

Bibliography

* "Ceramics of Weston Priory/Brother Thomas" by Thomas, Brother, O.S.B.; Henning, Robert, Jr. (Curated By) Publisher:

George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum The Quadrangle is the common name for a cluster of museums and cultural institutions in Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, on Chestnut Street between State and Edwards Streets. The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, in the cente ...

, Springfield, MA. Date Published: 1980 * Exhibition Catalogue. 79 pp., illus. (some col. ); 23 cm. Exhibition held at the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, June 1-September 7, 1980. * "The Path to the Beautiful" Published in Boston by David R. Godine Publishers (http://godine.com/) 1988 * Biographical Film: "Gifts From the Fire", Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1991
New York Times Movie Review
* "Gifts From the Fire". Published in Boston by Pucker Gallery, 1993 * "Creation out of Clay". Published in Boston by Pucker Gallery, 1999 * "Celebrate the Days: Brother Thomas Book of Days". Pucker Art Publications, 2000 * "This is the Day: Work and Words of Brother Thomas". Pucker Art Publications. Syracuse University Press, 978-0-8028-6312-6, 2007

Quotes

"Art is meant to open the human heart to truth and beauty, goodness and unity. It is like a finger pointing to the moon. It is not the finger that is important, it is the moon." "First you do what is necessary, then you do what is possible and before you know it you are doing the impossible." "The thing we all strive for is to shape our humanity in the image of God, to do good, stand up for what is true, create what is beautiful, and live for what unites and does not divide."

Images

* Pucker Gallery

Brother Thomas ''Small lidded vase with celadon glaze'', ca. 1980
* The Art Museum Image Consortium Library

* Harrison Gallery
An image gallery

References

External links

The Brother Thomas Fellowship Awards

The Brother Thomas Fellowship Award winners
* Ceramics Monthly – December 2006
A Long and Winding Road to Artistic Success by Richard Busch
4.4 MB PDF document

* Boston Phoenix
exhibition review September 2003

Artist information page at The Harrison Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezanson, Brother Thomas American potters 1929 births 2007 deaths Artists from Erie, Pennsylvania Art Students League of New York alumni Benedictine monks Canadian potters NSCAD University alumni University of Ottawa alumni 20th-century ceramists