Reynolds College Blog

Art and Design’s Chris Rodgers named to Teaching Artist Cohort

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Artist-in-Residence Chris Rodgers, ceramics instructor in the Department of Art and Design, has been named to the Center for Craft’s Teaching Artist Cohort.

The cohort is a six-month program that offers professional and financial support to artists who are both educators and practitioners. The honor includes a grant that provides unrestricted funding of $10,000.

Rodgers was one of only 30 artists selected for the cohort.

As a member of the cohort, Rodgers also participates in mentorship and peer-to-peer learning activities. These activities help sustain studio practices while strengthening community engagement.

Rodgers’ recognition by the Center for Craft highlights the department’s faculty who merge creative research with hands-on teaching, said Interim Department Head Dr. Mitzi Kirkland-Ives. His participation in the Teaching Artist Cohort grant program, she added, reflects the ongoing dialogue between making and mentoring that defines the department’s studio culture.

Various ceramic artwork items displayed on floor
One of the preliminary stages of Rodgers’ “Illuminated by the Moon” installation in Longquan, China. Rodgers created these 26 ceramic sculptures while in residency at Longquan Wangou.

Grant impact felt immediately

According to Rodgers, the grant’s impact began with space itself. “The first thing I did after receiving the grant was to design and build proper studio furniture,” he explained. “I now have three large tables and a shelving unit that are exactly what I need. This change has completely transformed how I work.”

The redesigned studio has made it possible for Rodgers to focus on a new series of ceramic paintings, a body of work that blurs the boundaries between sculpture and painting. He plans to continue expanding this process by using colored clay and hand-made grog. This process reveals color from within the material rather than applying it to the surface.

“The result is a tactile exchange between form and color that invites viewers to see ceramics and painting in a new way,” he said.

Busy upcoming exhibition schedule

Rodgers will present his evolving ceramic paintings in a solo exhibition in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the spring of 2026. Two larger solo shows will follow in 2027 at the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Missouri State’s Brick City Gallery. “These projects would not be possible without the generosity of the Center for Craft’s Teaching Artist Cohort ,” he said. “The experience has helped me build not only better tables but a stronger foundation for my future as an artist and educator.” [Read more…] about Art and Design’s Chris Rodgers named to Teaching Artist Cohort

Chris Rodgers joins art and design faculty

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The Department of Art and Design has a new face in the ceramics studio, and he’s already making waves with his thoughtful teaching and grounded artistic practice.

Originally from Charleston, West Virginia, Chris Rodgers comes to Missouri State University with a passion for clay, community and creative risk-taking.

Rodgers’ work spans clay, steel and cast concrete, often shaped by self-imposed project parameters. “The problem-solving of working with ceramics is a huge part of what continues to draw me to this material,” he said.

Roundabout path leads to passion for ceramics

Rodgers didn’t always know he’d end up working with ceramics. Like many students, he shifted majors a few times during college before discovering a spark in an unexpected place — a hand-building class.

“I was completely fascinated by the material possibilities and uncertainties of working with glaze,” he said. That curiosity stuck. Since then, ceramics has become both his medium and his way of thinking. A turning point for him came during graduate school with a series of six sculptures titled “Leaning from the Steep Slope.”

“That was also the first time I made something and thought, ‘I’d be excited to see this if it wasn’t mine,’” he recalled.

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