About Johnnie

  Johnnie Bess is a multimedia artist whom currently specializes in Ceramic Teaware design.
In 2019 Bess was awarded the Oolite Arts, Teacher’s Travel grant to return to Iwakuni, Japan, where he lived briefly as a child, to learn the region's 400-year-old style of traditional ceramics known as Hagi ware. Johnnie's current work, like his students' own,  represents a process of sustained investigation and personal inquiry as well as a synthesis of experiences, cultures and aesthetic sensibilities.
   Most recently in 2022, with great consideration, Johnnie left Florida's Public School System for the opportunity to briefly study ceramics full time as part of an extended residency at The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap Georgia. After a year of practice and research of southern and Appalachian folk ceramics Bess was awarded a Multicultural Fellowship with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in Cincinnati Ohio.