Artist Biography

Jill Foote-Hutton recently relocated to Red Lodge, MT with her favorite cowboy and 12-year-old chihuahua to be the new Gallery Coordinator at Red Lodge Clay Center.  The beautiful synchronicity of life seems to have set things right for the next stage, all has been preparation for the present. 

Prior to the recent move Jill directed the Art Department at East Central College in Union, MO, where she updated not only the program, but also the gallery space.  Under her leadership a strong visiting artist program evolved.  The greatest achievement at ECC, and five years in the making, was the institution of an Associate of Fine Art degree plan. 

From 2007-2010 she and the cowboy moved into a restored bank in New Haven, MO which they utilized as a studio and an alternative gallery space.  The exhibitions targeted the work of contemporary ceramic artists, providing a safe place for the clay arts to push and break their limits.  Constantly engaged in critical dialogue and observations, her writings have been published in Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter Magazine.

She completed her MFA in Ceramics under Ron Dale at the University of Mississippi in 2003, after earning her BFA in sculpture from Webster University, St. Louis, MO.  While in graduate school she was a studio assistant at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and Santa Fe Clay in New Mexico.  Jill was the recipient of the 2003 Graduate Student Achievement Award at the University of Mississippi.  She also was awarded a Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Grant, a Director’s Recognition Award from the Period Gallery in Omaha, NE.

As the transition of a new phase of life occurs, Jill looks forward to creating in the dynamic environment provided by Red Lodge Clay Center and making a relevant, if not conventional, contribution to the ongoing conversation that is contemporary ceramics.