Frances Senska
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Frances Maude Senska (March 9, 1914 – December 25, 2009) was an art professor and artist specializing in ceramics who taught at
Montana State University – Bozeman Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 field ...
from 1946 to 1973. She was known as the "grandmother of ceramics in Montana". During her career, she trained a number of now internationally known ceramic artists.


Life and career

Senska was born in the port city of Batanga in the German Empire
colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...
of
Kamerun Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern ...
, (now
Batanga Batanga may refer to: Ethnography * , of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, related to the Duala of Cameroon * Batanga language, spoken by the Bataga Places * Batanga, Burkina Faso, a village in Bam Province, Burkina Faso * Batanga, Ghana, a ...
,
Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
). She was the only child of Frank Radcliff Senska and Georgia B. Senska (''née'' Herrald),
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
missionaries. Her father was a physician who founded Sakbayémé Hospital in the town of Sakbayeme in the highlands region of Bassa in Kamerun, her mother was a teacher who worked at the local missionary school. Frances was schooled at home; it took three days to walk to the nearest public school, and her parents felt this was too far away in case she fell ill with a tropical disease. She came to America for the first time in 1929. She graduated from University High School in
Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...
. She earned a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
and
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
degree from the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
in 1935 and 1939, respectively. Her undergraduate training was in lithography,Merriam, p. 79. and her graduate degree in
applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univ ...
(specializing in sculpture.) She taught art at
Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...
from 1939 to 1942. In the summer of 1941, she took art classes at the
Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art I ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California. But in 1942, her teaching position at Grinnell was eliminated so that the college could hire a physics professor.Smith, Marjorie. "I Make Pots." ''Mountains & Minds: The Montana State University Magazine.'' Spring 2010.
Accessed 2011-10-15.
That summer, she briefly studied ceramics under
László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the ...
at the School of Design (now the
IIT Institute of Design Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design. History The Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is a school of design ...
) in Chicago. Moholy-Nagy had a strong influence on Senska, influencing not only her ceramic design but her teaching style as well. She served in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
from 1942 to 1946 during World War II, where she was trained as a pilot. During her time in the military, she was posted to a base in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. She rose to the rank of
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
. She became interested in ceramics after taking a class from Edith Heath, then teaching at the
California Labor School The California Labor School (until 1945 named the Tom Mooney Labor School) was an educational organization in San Francisco from 1942 to 1957. Like the contemporary Jefferson School of Social Science and the New York Workers School, it represent ...
.Newby, page 43. In the summer of 1946, she attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art (now
Cranbrook Educational Community The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cra ...
), where she studied under Maija Grotell (one of the most important studio potters of mid-20th century America).Folk, Thomas. "Frances Senska: Studio Potter." ''American Ceramics.'' 8:2 (Summer 1990), page 34. She began teaching at Montana State University in Bozeman in 1946. The school's Department of Applied Art hired her to teach ceramics. But she did not, at that time, consider herself a ceramicist. "I started teaching ceramics with the merest little scrap of knowledge. I had had just two quarters of ceramics when I started teaching. I just learned it right along with the class," she later said. Senska decided to build a ceramics program from the ground up. Olga Ross Hannon, the department's head, gave her $300, and she and her first class of students took over a storeroom in the basement of Herrick Hall, purchased foot-driven
potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, a ...
s, and built an electric
kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
from scratch. Continuing to train in ceramics, Senska attended a workshop taught by noted French-American ceramic artist
Marguerite Wildenhain Marguerite Wildenhain, née Marguerite Friedlaender and alternative spelling ''Friedländer'' (October 11, 1896 – February 24, 1985), was an American Bauhaus-trained ceramic artist, educator and author. After immigrating to the United States in ...
at the
Pond Farm Pond Farm (also known as Pond Farm Workshops) was an American artists’ colony that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It is located near the Russian River resort town of Guerneville, California, about north ...
artists' colony near
Guerneville, California Guerneville ( , ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, California, United States. The town is historically known for the logging community, formed in the late 1800s. Guerneville ...
, in the summer of 1950. Senska later said that she learned her hand technique from Wildenhain. Her students included a number of influential ceramicists, including Rudy Autio and
Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic ...
. While teaching at Montana State, Senska met fellow art professor Jessie Spaulding Wilber. The two women became lifelong friends and companions. "We had a big thing in common -- childhoods with a lot of moving around," Frances said. "It was a great way to spend a childhood. Other kids had groups of friends and neighborhoods they grew up with, which is nice. On the other hand, it's real nice when you don't really feel you need to be part of a group." Senska retired from teaching in 1973. Wilber died October 2, 1989. Senska died on Christmas Day 2009 at her home in Bozeman, Montana.


Legacy, honors, and collections

Senska helped to found several important arts organizations. She was one of the founding members of the Montana Institute of the Arts in 1948, served as the organization's Crafts Chair from 1954 to 1956, and was its director from 1961 to 1962. She also helped found the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana, in the early 1950s. Senska received many honors throughout her life. These include: *1964 – Elected a Fellow of the Montana Institute of the Arts. *1979 – Elected an Honorary Member of the
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Founded in 1966, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is an organization in the United States serving the interests of ceramics as an art form and in creative education. Most major American ceramic artists since the 1970s, ...
. *1982 – Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Montana State University. *1988 – Elected a Fellow of the
American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly mag ...
. *1988 – Recipient of the Montana Governor's Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts.McConnell and Forbes, p. 39. *2003 – Recipient of the Archie Bray Foundation's Meloy-Stevenson Award of Distinction for Outstanding Service. Her lithographic prints have been collected by the Brooklyn Museum, the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
, and the
Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...
.


References


Bibliography

*Senska, Frances. ''Frances Senska: A Life in Art.'' Helena: Holter Museum of Art, 2004. *Johnson, Mark Dean. ''At Work: The Art of California Labor.'' San Francisco: California Historical Society Press, 2003. *Levin, Elaine. ''The History of American Ceramics, 1607 to the Present: From Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms.'' New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988. *McConnell, Gordon and Forbes, Donna. ''Yellowstone Art Museum: The Montana Collection.'' Billings, Mont.: Yellowstone Art Museum, 1998. *Merriam, H.G. ''The Arts in Montana.'' Missoula, Mont.: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1977. *Newby, Rick. "Art." In ''The Rocky Mountain Region: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures.'' Rick Newby, ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004. *Ostermann, Matthias. ''The Ceramic Narrative.'' London: A&C Black, 2006. *Slivka, Rose and Tsujimoto, Karen. ''The Art of Peter Voulkos.'' New York: Oakland Museum, 1995.


External links

*
Frances Senska on the Early Clay Movement
'. Craft in America (PBS) video short
Suitcase Lesson: Frances Senska, Artist
University of Montana Western
PDF version
*
I Make Pots: From Montana Students and Big Sky Clay, Frances Senska helped craft a ceramics revolution.
' Montana State University Communications, October 1, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Senska, Frances 1914 births 2009 deaths Montana State University faculty Cameroonian emigrants to the United States University of Iowa alumni Grinnell College faculty Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Illinois Institute of Technology alumni People from Bozeman, Montana Artists from Montana 20th-century American ceramists WAVES personnel Female United States Navy officers American women academics 21st-century American women