Heather Nameth Bren

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Heather Nameth Bren is a studio artist who specializes in ceramic sculpture and installation. Her work is conceptually based and explores ideas of truth and perception through her ceramic and mixed media installations.

Bren received a Master’s of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the University of Kansas in 2003. During that time, she participated in a study abroad exchange program with Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom where she learned industrial ceramic processes that continue to inform her work. She has worked with ceramic sculpture for over fifteen years and has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.

Bren has been the recipient of a number of awards including a Jerome Foundation Artists Project Grant through Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. In 2004, she was recognized as an “Emerging Artist” by Ceramics Monthly Magazine. Bren received the 2010 McKnight Foundation Fellowship for ceramic artists. Most recently, Bren was awarded a 2013 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant for research in delftware and travel to the Netherlands.

In addition to Bren's studio practice, she is an Associate Professor of Art & Design at the University of Northwestern - St. Paul in Minnesota. She also serves as on the exhibitions committee at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN where Bren was recently elected to the Board of Trustees. She currently resides in The Twin Cities, with her husband and two young daughters, Alivia and Hazel.