Patrick Terjak

The youngest son of an accomplished woodworker, Patrick Terjack was introduced to clay at the impressionable age of 14 by his brother Jerome. He chose to pursue ceramics largely because of the encouragement and critical eye of his high school teacher.

Patrick attended Edinboro University of Pennsylvania to pursue a BFA in ceramics and teacher certification. He began to explore raku, salt & soda, and wood firing in addition to a steady diet of cone 10 reduction firing in the natural gas kilns. After an award for best in show at the annual student exhibition in 1986, Patrick accepted an Artist in Residence position at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh, PA, and was subsequently selected for a one year residency position at the world famous Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT. During his Bray residency, he was chosen for the graduate program at Arizona State University by Kurt Weiser.

Patrick completed his MFA thesis exhibition and was awarded an Arizona Commission of the Arts grant and then a fellowship as an Emerging Artist by the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, based in Miami, FL. Patrick moved to CA in 2005, and chose to share a studio and winter wood firing cycle with Joern Piesnack of Morro Bay.