CONCORD, MASS.- Lacoste Gallery announces its exhibition Tom Jaszczak + Mike Helke: The Young Minnesotans from August 5 – 26, 2017. The gallery is bringing young emerging artists to the community of Concord and this year, they are showing Tom Jaszczak and Mike Helke who are both from the fertile ceramics state of Minnesota.

Tom Jaszczak was named the NCECA Emerging Artist at the National Ceramic Conference 2016 and is currently a resident artist at Penland School of Craft, North Carolina. Jaszczak received many accolades in his young career amongst them, Windgate Scholar at Archie Bray and Honored Maker, Makers Faire at The White House, DC. His works are minimal in form with painted geometric shapes being the focal point on each pot. His practice is very much in keeping with the Minnesotan tradition of functional pottery but soars above tradition with his bold interpretations.

Mike Helke is an equally accomplished artist and a rising star in the ceramic field. He received the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant this year and holds adjunct teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He investigates the act of mark making through the medium of clay, the act of pot throwing and ultimately the appreciation of such pot by the user. His pots are colorful and their forms highly interesting and unconventional.

Both Jaszczak and Helke were named by C-File the online arts magazine for ceramics as “Fifteen Potters to Watch” in 2016.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the artists will be giving a workshop at Harvard Ceramic Studios.

The gallery is wheelchair accessible and free to the public.