Born in 1950 in Lansing, Michigan, Kurt Weiser is an artist and regents professor of ceramics at Arizona State University. Weiser earned his BFA under ACC Gold Medalist Ken Ferguson at Kansas City Art Institute (1972) and his MFA at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1976). After completing his studies, Weiser moved to Helena, Montana, where he served as director of the Archie Bray Foundation (1977 – 88). Throughout these years, Weiser’s primary interest was the materiality of clay and experimental glazing. In 1989, Weiser accepted a position at ASU, where he still teaches. This geographical relocation coincided with a shift in style for Weiser. Though he kept private sketchbooks filled with fantastical ink drawings throughout his career, his drawing practice remained mostly separate from his ceramic work. In the early 1990s, he began melding the two. He embraced porcelain casting and started using china paint to create intricate illustrations across the surface of abstract forms and vessels. Weiser has gained a significant following and has exhibited at galleries and museums around the country. His work is represented within many public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art. He was named an honorary member of the National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts  in 2017, and he received fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts in 1989 and 1992). Weiser was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2003.