Brother Thomas Bezanson (5 August 1929 – 16 August 2007) was a Canadian-born artist and Benedictine monk primarily known for his porcelain pottery and mastery of complex glazes. Strongly influenced by Asian pottery, he often adapted traditional Chinese and Japanese pottery methods and materials to his work.

Early life and education

Brother Thomas was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a descendant of Irish and Scottish families that had been in Nova Scotia for many generations. In 1950 he graduated from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He also spent some time in New York City studying at Art Students League of New York. From 1951 to 1958 he both worked in business and was an advisor to the Nova Scotia Handcraft Century. He began working in pottery in 1953. In 1958–59 he traveled and studied in Europe.

Monastic life and career

In 1959, he entered the Benedictine Monastery, Weston Priory, in Weston, Vermont. In 1968 he graduated from the University of Ottawa with a master's degree in philosophy and a University Gold Medal. In 1976 he was a visiting lecturer at Alfred University School of Ceramics. In 1978 he traveled to Japan and Taipei. While in Japan he met five Living National Treasure potters. In 1983 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant. From 1985 until his death, he was the artist-in-residence at Mount Saint Benedict in Erie, Pennsylvania.

His works are held in more than 80 museum collections. One piece, initially rejected by the artist, is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Death

Brother Thomas died at his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 16 August 2007.

Brother Thomas Fund

The Brother Thomas Fund was established under the auspices of the Boston Foundation upon the artist's death. Since 2007, proceeds from the sale of his work have supported the fund. In October 2009, the first eight Brother Thomas Fellowships were awarded to mid-career Boston artists, each receiving $15,000.

The fund is also supported by donations and by sales of Brother Thomas's work through the Pucker Gallery in Boston. , the fund had awarded $1,080,000 in grants to 72 artists. Fellowships are awarded every two years.

Exhibitions and honors

• National Endowment for the Arts Grant, 1983

• Retrospective Exhibition, Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania, 1990

• Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1991

Known collections

• Aidekman Art Center, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts

• Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

• Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts

• Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

• Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, Canada

• Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

• Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

• Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York

• Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts

• Dimock Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

• Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

• Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

• Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Framingham State University, Framingham, Massachusetts

• Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan

• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

• Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

• Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

• Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

• Pucker Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts

• Roberson Museum and Science Center, Binghamton, New York

• The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California

• St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York

• Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

• The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel

• University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts

• Vatican Collection, Rome, Italy

• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

• Windsor Castle, Windsor, England

• Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts

• Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Publications

Further reading

• Exhibition catalogue. Exhibition held at the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1 June – 7 September 1980.

• Gifts From the Fire. Biographical film. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1991.

Images

• Pucker Gallery: An image gallery

• Brother Thomas

• The Art Museum Image Consortium Library

• Harrison Gallery: An image gallery

References

1. Notes

   Citations

External links

• Artist information page at Pucker Gallery

• The Brother Thomas Fellowship Awards

• The Brother Thomas Fellowship Award winners

• A Long and Winding Road to Artistic Success – Ceramics Monthly, December 2006 (4.4 MB PDF)

• Who's Who: Japanese Ceramic Artists

• Exhibition review – Boston Phoenix, September 2003

• Artist information page at The Harrison Gallery