Neil Tetkowski is the founder and director of the Common Ground World Project, an international non-governmental organization that uses the arts and education to focus attention on global environmental concerns. In 1997, Tetkowski presented this concept to several offices at the United Nations. Within a few months, the Common Ground World Project was officially endorsed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. A tremendous effort was required to recruit, motivate and coordinate people around the world, to extract earth from their country and send it to New York. The project culminated during the spring of 2000 when Tetkowski built a sculpture on location at the United Nations using these unique earth materials and physically involved people from every country of the world. The completed World Mandala Monument was exhibited at the United Nations in 2002. The Ford Foundation made a generous grant to support the final fabrication and installation of the World Mandala Monument in the main visitor's lobby at the UN in New York.

Tetkowski has given numerous lectures and workshops throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Cuba, Korea, and Japan, including the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Museum of Arts and Desgn in New York City, the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. He is an elected lifetime member of the International Academy of Ceramics in Zurich and an Honorary Citizen of Kanazawa, Japan. Tetkowski has received numerous grants and fellowships. His work is widely published and placed in permanent collections of more than 35 museums including the Victoria and Albert in London, the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.

Tetkowski was born in 1955 in Buffalo, New York. He had an early fascination with different cultures. As a child Tetkowski had the opportunity to travel extensively with his family. At five he went to school in Siena, Italy for several years. By the time he was eight he had crossed the Atlantic three times by ocean liner and had visited more than 20 countries. Tetkowski earned his BFA in 1977 at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. In 1980 he received his MFA from Illinois State University. He taught at Denison University in Ohio until 1983. During the following four years Tetkowski was an assistant professor of art at the State University College at Buffalo and from 1993 through 1999 he taught at Parsons School of Design.

Tetkowski lives in Manhattan and is the Gallery Director at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. His artwork is well represented in private collections, and permanent collections of 35 museums including the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria and Albert in London. He has received many awards including a grant from the Ford Foundation. During the past year, Neil Tetkowski’s work has been exhibited in Korea at the World Ceramic Biennale and in China at the Beijing Art Biennale 2005.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh
Castellani Art Gallery, Niagara Falls, New York
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York
Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia
Hetjens Museum, Dusseldorf
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu
Huntington Museum, Huntington, West Virginia
Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
Keramion, Frechen, Germany
Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, California
MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
Musee Ariana, Geneve, Switzerland
Museum of Applied Arts, Helsinki
Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Georgia
Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design, New York City
Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires
Museum of Modern Art, Kogeikan, Tokyo
Museum of Western New York Art, Burchfield-Penny Art Center, Buffalo, New York
Museum Prinsessehof, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Ohi Museum, Kanazawa, Japan
The Palace of Culture, Warsaw
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas
Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, New York
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
misc1 Museum, Tokyo
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England