Patricia A. Briggs is a ceramic artist, art historian, and arts writer. She has been a resident artist at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, C.R.E.T.A. Rome, and Red Lodge Clay Center. Since retiring from academia, she has devoted herself full-time to studio practice. Briggs served as Director and Curator of the Weeks Gallery at the State University of New York–Jamestown Community College from 2013 to 2019 and as Director of the Galleries at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside from 2011 to 2013. She taught art history at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 2000 to 2010. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Neue Keramik (New Ceramics), Artforum, History of Photography, and Women’s Art Journal.Briggs’s

Artist Statement: In my work I explore the original function and cultural meaning of historical vessel forms. I use the Greek amphora—once used to transport water— and the medieval apothecary jar—originally used to store ingredients for medicines—as starting points for examining contemporary concerns. Connecting past and present, my amphorae address issues of water scarcity, while my apothecary jars suggest new approaches to health and healing.