Instructors

Doug Bringle

Senior Faculty | Ceramics | Young Artists Program
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An accomplished artist and experienced art educator, Doug Bringle joined the faculty at Crealdé School of Art in 2001. He is well-known for his ability to introduce students of any age to the wonders of clay, teaching adult and youth hand-building classes. His parent-child workshops have generated hundreds of family keepsakes, including jack-o’-lanterns and Christmas trees. Bringle graduated from the University of Florida, and his clay work is hand-built, using traditional slab, pinch and coil techniques. Sea themes are featured in many of his distinctive pieces, reflecting his birth on a small Atlantic island in the Azores. Bringle is influenced by pre-Columbian forms, particularly Maya, Moche and Nazca. He also admires the bold, graphic art of the peoples of the Northwest Coast, Japanese Jomon and Chinese jade and bronze forms.

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Artist's Statement

“Clay is an amazing material. It gives form and substance to the ethereal. Working in clay is a magical process of transmutation, directing a spark  from the imagination to the hand to the ware board. The hands and mind are engaged in a unique way that produces something more than what is imagined at the outset. There is a contribution from the clay itself that guides the creation. And then there is the firing …giving up the pieces to a furnace of flames.

For me the best part of ceramics is handling the wet clay and shaping it. That process takes me out of time and into myself. It’s not something to rush into, nor out of. I like the pieces I make the best when they are drying and are still unfired. They seem more honest then, standing softly and gently in the light, not reflecting light, absorbing it. They are not yet hard, nor permanent … closer to a mirage, vulnerable and very breakable. And then, after their trips through the kilns, they become something else altogether –rock-like, handmade fossils.

One of the best things about finished pieces is that they have lives of their own. They embark on journeys beyond my control and sending my work off on those voyages is very fulfilling for me as an artist.”

Personal Website
Doug Bringle
Selected Awards
  • 2009, 2nd Place Clay Award, Festival of the Masters, Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World, Orlando
  • 2008, Selected for International Market of Potters, Biennale de la Céramique of Andenne, Belgium
  • Merit Award, Renaissance Regional Art Exhibition, Dickson, Tennessee
  • 2nd Place Clay Award, Maitland Arts Festival, Maitland, Florida
  • 2006, Award of Distinction, Lake Eustis Fine Arts Festival, Lake Eustis, Florida
  • 2nd Place Pottery Award, Maitland Arts Festival, Maitland, Florida
  • Award of Distinction, 30/30 Juried Competition, Maitland Art Center, Maitland, Florida
  • 3rd Place Sculpture, Festival of the Masters, Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World, Orlando
Selected Exhibitions
  • 2013, Director’s Choice III, Crealdé School of Art, Winter Park, Florida
  • 2011, 2012, 2013, The Mennello Museum of Art Folk Art Festival, Orlando, Florida,
  • 2013, St. Johns River Festival of the Arts, Sanford, Florida
  • 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, Festival of the Masters, Downtown Disney, Walt Disney World, Orlando
  • 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, Walt Disney World, Orlando
  • 2011, 2012, 2013, Winter Park Autumn Art Festival, Winter Park, Florida
  • 2010, 2011, 2012, Maitland Rotary Art Festival, Maitland, Florida
  • 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, Visual Fringe, Orlando Fringe Festival, Loch Haven Cultural Park, Orlando
  • 2011, Figure and Form: A Showcase of Florida Sculptors, Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Garden, Winter Park, Florida
  • 2006, 2008, 2011, Renaissance Regional Art Exhibition, Renaissance Center, Dickson, Tennessee
  • 2010, 2011, DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts, DeLand, Florida
  • 2010, Regional Juried Exhibition, Thomas Center, Gainesville, Florida
Permanent Collections
  • Art & History Museums – Maitland, Maitland, Florida