Rudolf Staffel

In the 1940s, he studied with Hans Hofmann in New York, who instilled in him a strong sense of "push/pull" pictorial content that would later come to maturity in his Light Gatherers.

"[2] Staffel made his own porcelain compositions in an effort to achieve the maximum translucency, the same as with glass or paint.

While there, he mentored artists including Paula Winokur, and John E. Dowell Jr.[4] Staffel died in 2002 in Alfred, New York.

As a result of his innovations, technical prowess and vision, Staffel is widely considered to be one of the most significant American ceramic artists working in the latter half of the 20th century.

Noted historian Garth Clark called Staffel "one of the most original vessel makers in American ceramics.

"[12] Marianne Aav called him "one of the most daring innovators and renewers of ceramic thinking during the late twentieth century" [13] and noted that "Especially among the pieces from the 1970s onward, there are examples that show risk-taking, daring and freedom from all conventional forms that is seldom, if ever, seen in ceramics … We can say that Staffel is an expressionist, a very sophisticated one, whose work is based on incredible skill and thorough observation.