Artist statement…

For 31 of the last 35 years, potter Rick Berman has been writing a book about indigenous pottery in India. In 1996 he made a film on Indian pottery and he is working on an 80-foot brick and tile wall for an Indian monastary. The self-described teacher "who was born to teach teenagers" took eight Pace students to India in the summer of 2004.

Rick started the pottery department at Callanwolde Art Center in Atlanta in 1973, and in 1981, the same year he wrote a book called "Teapots," he opened his own Buckhead gallery. He closed the gallery the year before he joined the Pace Academy faculty in 1997. In 2003, he curated the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia's "Clay" exhibit.

Rick has taught at University of Georgia, West Georgia College, North Georgia College, and Georgia State University. Pace offered Rick his first experience teaching teenagers and he loves it. Considering Pace "pure fun," he goes on to say "Pace's art program is very comparable to most of the college programs I've worked with." He wants students to develop confidence in themselves and not be afraid to take chances.

Besides pottery, Rick enjoys playing the guitar and harmonica and has participated in the Pace "Cabaret" for the past three years. He has a very artistic family with two children in graduate school in film making and ceramics and one child at Grady High School.