“I was mesmerized”

I am entranced by the presence of clay—its possibilities for expressing boldness, movement, texture, colour, mystery and nuance. I work intuitively, allowing its character to reveal itself through my manipulations. It feels like a conversation between me and the material, and I need to listen as much as impose.

The first and final stages of making most interest me. Moist clay is alive with promise, poised to respond to pressure and suggestion. After the first firing comes the 'dead' stage, when that life is gone and the forms are bleached and static. The final decisions concern surface—what glaze, what oxides will reanimate the work?

Although I often title individual pieces, I don't want to prescribe how people should view them. Interpretations should be personal, fuelled by the viewer's own perceptions. I want each viewing to reveal something new.

Ed Bamiling has been a practicing artist for over forty years, establishing himself as a significant figure in contemporary ceramics across North America and beyond. His work draws inspiration from a diverse range of sources, including the canyonlands of the American Southwest, historical sites in Europe, the legacies of lost or ancient cultures, and the shapes and colours of the natural world.

As a young artist at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Bamiling participated in the early development of the paperclay process—a technique that would fundamentally shape his consideration of ceramic process and aesthetics. In this medium, paper pulp is added to the clay body; cellulose fibres make the clay more resistant to cracking and allow greater risk-taking when creating complex forms. This innovation moved him to explore beyond normal boundaries, incorporating concepts of the found object intermingled with traditional form.

Bamiling's sculptural pieces embrace the textural qualities of clay and its capacity to reflect the natural world. While some works allude to function, they remain firmly in non-functional territory. His surface treatment frequently employs metallic oxides and low-temperature glazes fired in electric, raku, and soda kilns, animating each piece with depth and movement. Some of his current work references ongoing themes of landscape and the undulating forms found in nature. His platters and bowl forms embrace a more diverse and vibrant use of colour.

Recent figures in his Dreamers series represent a new direction—simple and unpretentious in appearance, yet feeling simultaneously personal and expansive in presence. Through these explorations, Bamiling continues to seek deeper discovery within his practice.

Beyond his studio work, Bamiling has lectured and conducted ceramic workshops in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greece, and Korea. He has participated in international ceramics symposia across the US, Mexico, and Greece, and has travelled extensively doing personal research in Central America, the Four Corners area of the American Southwest, and numerous European sites. His work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

Bamiling is represented in public collections in Canada and Mexico, and in private collections spanning Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, and several European countries.

Currently, Bamiling serves as Ceramics Facilitator with the Visual Arts Program at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta. His responsibilities include overseeing all facilities of the ceramic studios and consulting with resident artists from around the world to help them successfully meet their project goals. He has also maintained a long affiliation with the Leadership Department at Banff Centre in both public and private sector programs, using clay as a vehicle to explore personal and organizational creativity.

Statement:

Rock; fire; eroded earth; the patina of time on old buildings; the "knowing" of things which can't be defined - this is inspiration for me.  I respond to the texture of clay, its plasticity, its ability to act as historical document.  

Some of the current work references ongoing themes of landscape, the undulating forms in nature.  Platters and bowl forms embrace a more diverse and vibrant use of colour, which gives me great pleasure.  I want more. The figures in the Dreamers are new, simple and unpretentious, but for me, feeling at once very personal and very expansive in their presence.  I look forward to discovering more.