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Max Trumpower

@maxmakesmud

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MFA Ceramics Candidate- Indiana University Bloomington
lover of objects
From River to Sea Palestine Will Be Free
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Coordinates of Belonging — another beautiful group exhibition curated by gallerist Braydee Euliss of COMPANION. Brought together in celebration of the summer solstice, artists and land-based practitioners shared bodies of knowledge celebrating slow, curious relationships with land, with spacetime, and with each other. This exhibition was hosted off-site at White River Farm, a beloved family property and former farmstead along the White River in Indianapolis. It was such a pleasure to document it all!
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SCULPTURE FROM MY BACK YARD 
Figurative Vessel-Building and At-Home Glaze with Max Trumpower
Saturday, July 18th | 2 — 4 pm Join ceramic artist Max Trumpower for an artist talk and workshop. He will show-and-tell accessible options for making found slips or clay, pinch pots, ancient glazes, oxides, and stains. Participants will learn the basics of collecting soil for surface treatment on sculpture work. Max will provide a tutorial on creating figures that also function as vessels for holding liquids or objects and demonstrate how to make textured surfaces using collected soil samples. Designed for artists, sculptors, ceramicists, and anyone interested in alternative ceramic processes. Limited to 30 participants. Registration includes day-of ticketed admission to Coordinates of Belonging as part of our closing weekend programming. Coordinates of Belonging features two large, figurative ceramic sculptures by Max Trumpower who describes the works as “monuments to both our ancestral past and our collective future.” Mile Marker (Pointing Girl), 2026 Ceramics, glaze 38 x 17 x 10 in Water Tower, 2026 Ceramics, glaze 39 x 28 x 26 in “I make objects and sculptures that tell everyday stories and warn of cautionary tales. The politics of folk parables and their relationship to queerness drive the narratives in my ceramic work. I am intrigued by the fluid boundaries between Mexican folklore, Southern traditions, and their complex relationship to craft that are representative of my childhood. In this body of work, figures shape-shift beyond the boundaries of gender, plant, and animal into an existence of their own. They provide context for another possible world—where trans liberation and ancestral knowledge collide. These altar-like objects possess world-building capabilities and create a transcendental space. Variations in glaze and surface design impart the capacity for transitions between the past, present, and future.” Max Trumpower is an artist from the foothills of North Carolina. He is an MFA candidate in Ceramics at Indiana University Bloomington. For art sales and inquiries, email braydee@thisiscompanion.com Images by @annapowelldenton
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this incredibly beautiful season of life. Moving is sad. Bloomington, I love you. Maybe it is because the population is so uniquely transient (and I’m being indulgent here) re: summers, the population receding in enormous tides (and leaving, in its shores, the glittering shells of summer folk who helped me move today). The ever-change that makes me so aware of time (as we all are, with big life changes). Time shirking the responsibility onto place to do the heavy lifting of holding memories. Place being Bloomington; sheltering from tornadoes in a clay lab, witnessing a total solar eclipse (beautiful), teaching (just as beautiful), my studio, the attempted suppression of free speech on my campus, friends who do it the right way, and the Captain Kathryn Janeway. I’ll miss Milfy bears pizza, and the steaming caldera of humidity that engulfs this town in July. Emerald curtains of forest. Rattlesnake master and purple blazing star and Portlandia-in-Indiana people on bikes. box turtles and the EMoA and most of all, and this part really stings, just the greatest, most wonderful people. I’m missing a lot of folks in these pictures. Thank you Bloomington, it’s been magnificent.
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Spent the past two weeks @penlandschool working alongside some of the most talented, creative, trustworthy, silly, and generous artists. We laughed, cried, sang, cheered, shared, and supported each other. I made many new friends, met clay heroes, and deepened bonds with my community. I was left mentally and physically depleted but would do it all again in a heartbeat. Thank you to the New Ancients for helping cultivate such a beautiful studio.
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We visited the Clay Bash show this weekend at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, NJ. So wonderful to see the diversity of work. Here’s a few of my favorites but also many wonderful pieces not shown here. Judged by the wonderful @angelik.wiki be sure to check out the show and these awesome artists… 1. Threshold @phoebehscott 2 & 3. Time & detail of inside @mindyhornceramics 4. Pulse @sprayboothgremlin 5. Tagged @stefanie.haining 6. Visions III @rje01 7. Gesture @jackieshatz 8 & 9. Bday Blues @jreed_creates 10. Double @maxmakesmud 11 & 12. Brynn & Her Bruin @barbarafioreart #claybash2026 @hunterdonartmuseum
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Thank you George Rodriguez @georgesculpts and @penlandschool for an amazing experience learning to make large hollow sculptures! Amazed I could do this and excited to experiment more! So fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful students and the best teaching assistants César, Viv, Janelle @saysorrywithoutthe_ys @viv.ceramics @janella.png and studio assistant @maxmakesmud Owl sculptures are my own creations, all other work was created by the artists pictured #penlandschoolofcraft
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COORDINATES OF BELONGING OPENING RECEPTION Saturday, June 20th  | 6 — 10pm ON VIEW June 20 — July 19, 2026 COMPANION presents Coordinates of Belonging, an exhibition for the 2026 summer solstice featuring a group of artists and land-based practitioners who share bodies of knowledge celebrating slow, curious relationships with land, with spacetime, and with each other. 

Aleyah Austin Chris Merritt Dana Lynn Harper Danicia Monét Malone Ellery Diaz James R. McKenna Kevin Allison Kim Beck Lalana Fedorschak Maura Jasper Max Trumpower Meris Drew Rebekah Nolan Seneca Weintraut Shamira Stephanie Barlow Stuart Hyatt
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 Presented off-site in verdant gardens and intimate cottage spaces, the exhibition features sculpture, painting, ceramic, textile, video, and sound works. This third annual solstice exhibition is both an invocation and an invitation to encounter new agency in our lives. It calls attention to acts of personal and collective reorientation, with artworks and public programs that position yearning and abstract storytelling as critical compasses for belonging. OPENING WEEKEND ASSEMBLIES SUMMER SOLSTICE FLOW Meditation, Movement, and Greeting the Sun with Ellery Diaz
Sunday, June 21st | 4 — 7am 
SOIL TO PIGMENT A Land-Based Mini Residency on Indiana Soil, Color, and Material Practice with Shamira, Kevin Allison, and Dr. Danicia Monét Malone Sunday, June 21st | 9am — 1pm GUIDED GARDEN WALK Sunday, June 21st | 1:30 — 3pm 
[ Admission is by ticket or assembly registration only — event details and tickets at thisiscompanion.com ] OPEN HOURS VIEWING APPOINTMENTS Friday, Saturday, and Sunday | 12 — 5pm closed July 3 — 5, 2026

For sales and inquiries, please contact: braydee@thisiscompanion.com
 Featured artwork: Lalana Fedorschak, Big Ear, 2026, Glazed stoneware, image by @annapowelldenton
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A week at Penland and I’m leaving incredibly grateful. 🥰 It was an honor to assist the talented Sara Torgison at Penland School of Craft this week. The opportunity to learn, and be immersed in such a vibrant community of makers was truly inspiring. A huge thank you to @saratorgison, the students, @susanfeagin, @heesooceramics and everyone who made this experience so memorable. Weeks like this remind me how valuable it is to step outside of your own studio, share knowledge, and learn from others. I’m especially thankful for my partner in crime, @mollygreenware. Heading home with new ideas, fresh inspiration, and a renewed excitement for making. 🫶🫶 #PenlandSchoolOfCraft #Ceramics #CraftCommunity #penland #GraduateStudent @penlandschool
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I had the honor of assisting @heesooceramics for her surface decorating porcelain class at @penlandschool I love Penland so much and the community of people I have met here 💜⛰️🏺
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Said goodbye again to the most magical place and people. Teaching @penlandschool was a dream come true for me. Endless thanks to @mollygreenware @joeydowneyart and @maxmakesmud for being the most rock star assistants, to @heesooceramics for being the best coffee buddy, to @susanfeagin for making our ceramic world go round, and to the awesome students who brought amazing energy with them to the class. Of course I took nowhere near enough pictures, but we did so much in 4 days!!! Now it’s time to sleep!😴 • • • #teaching #making #penland #craft #school #ceramics #dreamlife
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Really enjoyed seeing "Another Forest" on Wednesday, a spectacular exhibition curated by @alana.fitzgerald and currently on display at LVA. I love how bright and audacious the show feels, its exuberance never obscuring the messy complexity underneath. Thanks to @alana.fitzgerald for assembling such a stellar show, thanks to all of the artists on represented, and thanks to @brennen_cabrera for inviting me and accompanying me on this journey.
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“Another Forest” exhibition opening reception recap. Thank you to everyone who brought the forest to life on May 16th, 2026 ✨ I’m excited to share my audio soundscape and multi media artworks included in this beautifully curated space of whimsy, hope, longing, and exploration from the mind of @alana.fitzgerald ! What an honor to be part of an exhibition of so many talented artists. “Another Forest” is on view by appointment now through May 29th, in the 2nd floor gallery at the Louisville Visual Arts Building. Artworks: Tears In The Dance Hall (Crown) 2016 Mixed media, paint, plastic, vinyl, rope, and hair  32.5” x 35” Ohio River recordings, Another Forest Soundscape 2026 Field recordings and digital instruments  16 minutes 20 seconds  🎧*audio in video slide*🎧 Thank you: @keefeers + @louisvillevisualart for the space and support of the exhibition @shachaf.polakow for the deep listening and audio recording guidance @edwin_androspore for the audio editing tutorial @alana.fitzgerald for the invitation and encouragement 🌿
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