Walter Hall received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Haverford College in 1971 and an MFA in ceramics from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1975. His ceramics education also includes workshops with several prominent ceramists at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin, and the personal studio of Robert Turner in Alfred Station, New York, among others. After completing graduate school, he began teaching ceramics at the Hartford Art School in 1975. He has been a full-time member of the faculty since 1976, receiving tenure in 1982. Currently an Associate Professor of Ceramics, he is also Coordinator of the Freshman Foundation Studies program. He has coordinated ceramics workshops at the Hartford Art School featuring the artists Richard Shaw, Ron Nagle, John Roloff and Jun Kaneko. Known first for painterly porcelain wall plates, since the mid-80s, Hall has focused on sculptural ceramic pieces, made by combining steel mesh with ceramic mortar. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia (twice), Haverford College, the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and the Paul Mellon Arts Center at Choate-Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, among others. His work has been included in many invitational and competitive group exhibitions throughout the country, including “Yankee Clay: Ceramic Artists of the Northeast” at the Slater Museum in Norwich, Connecticut; the “27th Ceramic National” at the Everson Museum (NY) and the American Craft Museum (NYC); “American Porcelain” at the Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (show traveled throughout the U.S. and Southeast Asia); Pewabic Pottery in Detroit; “The Contemporary Ceramic Plate” at the Everson Museum; “Clay From Molds” at the Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin; “Young Americans: Clay/Glass” at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (NYC). Hall’s work is included in the following books on contemporary ceramics: Works by Ceramic Artists from Around the World by Shanghai Fine Arts Publishers (2-volume boxed set), 2005; The Craft and Art of Clay by Susan Peterson, 2003; The New Ceramics by Peter Dormer, 1986; Porcelain: Traditions and New Visions by Axel and McCready, 1981; Finding One’s Way With Clay by Paulus Berensohn, 1972. His work has also appeared in the leading journals of ceramic art, including American Ceramics, American Craft, Ceramics Monthly and the West Coast art periodical, Artweek as well as Ceramic Art Monthly, the leading journal of ceramic art in Seoul, Korea.
