About

Auguste Elder has been a working artist and educator for more than 29-years in and around New York City. His endeavors span the visual, performing, and literary arts, with a majority of the past decade invested in making and researching pottery. 

Paleontology, biology, archeology, cultural anthropology, and Eastern philosophy inform Elder’s disparate trajectories, unifying his enduring curiosity of and reverence for the transient. Fracture, strain, stain, pit, erode, vitrify, decay: words that evoke the weak and strong forces at play in our grand universe also define the set of actions that shape and define his oeuvre.

Compulsively drawn to the form and function of decanters, drinking cups, and storage vessels for their social, metaphorical, and intimate qualities, Elder’s work draws upon traditions and rituals from the prehistoric to modern, and from the culinary to the funerary.

Elder studied pottery independently in Philadelphia, Paris, and New York City. He has been a visiting artist at Salem Art Works (SAW) since 2015, where he focuses primarily on wood-firing vessels and urns inspired by Japanese and Etruscan wares. His pottery is collected on every continent except Antartica, and is in the permanent collections of the New York Public Library and The American Buddhist Study Center, both in Manhattan. Auguste's works have also appeared in Ceramics Monthly, and have been exhibited nationally, including in the prestigious international “Shapes of Influence Biennial,” juried by ceramist Simon Levin, which seeks to showcase “the best in contemporary ceramics.”

Elder co-founded with his wife Lisa Chan “Cha Bay Fine Teas & Rough Wares,” which serves to provide budding and seasoned tea enthusiasts with handmade and curated goods for the tea life. He teaches art full time at The Calhoun School in Manhattan, NY, and is represented by Cavin-Morris Gallery in Chelsea, NYC. Visit more of Auguste's works on Instagram @auguste.elder