Meet ROBERT HASSELLE     ROBERT HASSELLE has been pursuing a career as a sculptor and potter for over forty years. He has a well-rounded education including an MFA in Sculpture from Tulane University and a BA in Philosophy and Art from Rhodes College. In the 1960s, Robert was on the faculty at Ohio State University where he ran the bronze foundry. In the 1970s, he was head of the sculpture department at the Cincinnati Art Academy where he started the ceramics program. Teaching allowed him access and opportunity to further his own craft and his work today reflects his dedication and years of experience. 

Throughout his career, Robert Hasselle has received numerous honors, the most noteworthy of which have been museum purchase awards. His work now resides in the permanent collections of the Huntington Museum, WV, the Mobile Museum of Art, AL, The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH; the Tulane University Collection; the Ohio State University Collection; and the Cincinnati Art Museum, IL. Robert has also been written about in several articles in Ceramics Monthly, the premier publication on pottery and ceramics. 

In 2001 Robert Hasselle relocated from the mid-west to the Charlotte, North Carolina area where he continues to create dynamic artwork and teach his craft in his pottery school and studio. Robert is also regularly asked to share his expertise and has been an Artist in Residence at Fairmont State University in West Virginia, taught on faculty at Winthrop University in South Carolina and has conducted numerous workshops on pottery and sculpture in university and community settings in the south.

Robert Hasselle is best known for his horsehair raku glaze and ash glaze work. Drawing on several sources, both prehistoric and contemporary, Robert has developed a fine art line of raku pottery. The artful application of horsehair and ferric chloride to the surface of the hot pots gives each one a richness of surface and a unique look.  Ash glaze, besides being a return to the source, is a very rich process. Although it resembles wood firing and salt glazing in the lively surfaces it creates, it allows for a full range of color not really possible in the other two processes. Ash glazing is the first form of glazing ever developed. In the early Chinese kilns, wood fired pottery collected ash deposits, providing interesting textures and colors, and eventually giving rise to the process of glazing.  Says Robert, "In my ash glazes, the idea is to create a broad range of textures, surfaces, and colors. I like glazes that vary from wet to dry and thick to thin. Therefore, one piece will not only have several glazes, but also different application techniques. Pouring, spraying, and underglazing allow for what I hope is a richness of both texture and color. Each piece is unique with color and texture combinations that are never repeated."

Robert Hasselle is proudly represented by WICKWIRE fine art/folk art in Hendersonville, North Carolina.