What began as a curiosity and admiration of Asian art and culture
has
grown to become the driving force in the teaching and research of
Jeremiah Donovan. Since joining the department of Art and Art
history in spring 1996, his
work has focused on Chinese ceramic traditions and practices, which
have opened doors to opportunities for research in rural China, Tibet
and Korea.
During his tenure at Cortland the exhibition record of Donovan’s
ceramic work spans the globe with 25 national and 12 international
juried competitions. National venues have included Strictly Functional
Pottery National, The Lancaster Museum of Art (PA), Craft Transformed,
Fuller Museum of Art (MA), Evolving Legacies, The National Council for
the Education of the Ceramic Arts Clay National (NC), Monarch National
Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts (TX), Feats of
Clay, Lincoln Center for the Arts (CA), and Transforming the
Traditions, Contemporary Art Center, Kansas City (MO).
Recent International exhibitions include
1000 Years of Porcelain
Symposium Exhibition at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Art Museum (China),
Harmony of Earth, Wind, and Fire, Biseul Art Center (Korea), 
International Ceramic Exhibition, Foshan Contemporary Art Museum
(China), First International Ceramic Art Conference Exhibition, Yixing
Ceramic Art Museum (China).
Photographs
of Donovan’s ceramic work and articles he has written on
the subject of his work have been published in numerous
catalogues and journals, most recently in a textbook, Harmony of Earth,
Wind, and Fire, published by the Biseul Art Center, Daegu, Korea, and
in the Proceedings of the 1000 Year Celebration of Porcelain Symposium;
International Ceramic Art and Education, Jingdezhen, China. His recent
sculptural ceramic work references traditional pottery forms and
processes, incorporating multiple firing methods. Donovan has been a
panelist at conferences and presented papers on the subject of ceramics
throughout the United States, in China and Korea.
Although art was not his initial career path, Donovan recognized the
privileges of teaching at an early age. He recalls a conversation with
his father many years ago in which he was told that
teaching was an ‘honorable profession worthy of consideration’ and that
‘teaching was in his blood’. Now Donovan relates “ I turned 180 degrees
in the other direction”. Looking back across the idealistic years
of youth Donovan says, “I do believe teachers are born, not made. I am
only fortunate to have found an area of study which sparks my curiosity
and which I feel passionate about. I hope my students recognize that.”
After completing a Bachelors of Fine Arts at the Kansas City Art
Institute in 1984, and Masters of Fine Arts, Boston University in 1986,
Donovan was hired as Program Director of the Cornell Ceramics Studio,
Cornell University, and taught ceramics at Tompkins Cortland Community
College. He joined SUNY Cortland as lecturer in 1996 and was
promoted to assistant professor in 1998.
Fellowships have enabled Donovan to visit China four of the last six
summers for extended research and as a visiting professor, developing
relationships among Chinese artisans and university officials. During
the past years he has facilitated internships and study abroad
experiences in China for SUNY students. He has developed a study abroad
program, which takes 10 students each summer to Shanghai University,
Yixing, and Jingdezhen, to advance the study of history, culture, and
the art of China. Although Donovan specializes in Chinese ceramic art,
students from every discipline within SUNY are encouraged to
participate.
In 2005, Professor Jeremiah Donovan was awarded the SUNY Chancellors
Award for Internationalization, for his proposal titled China Summer
Study: History Culture and the Arts. The intent of this proposal is to
conduct a study abroad class documenting traditional rural life in
villages of central China and to continue establishing faculty and
student exchanges between SUNY Cortland and universities in China.
(http://www.cortlandabroad.com/profiles/chinasumm.html)
He is currently
conducting research on the custom and practices of tea drinking, which
began in China, for an International Exhibition of tea utensils,
documenting the production of porcelain pottery in the communities
surrounding the City of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China.
