Glazescapes | Summer 2025

June First Friday 6/6, 5-9pm

July SECOND Friday 7/11 5-9pm

August First Friday 8/1 5-9pm

This summer, Osmosis Gallery is proud to present Glazescapes, an exhibition celebrating the dynamic ceramic work of Colorado-based artist John Wenzel. The show spans June through August 2025, with First Friday receptions each month welcoming visitors to experience Wenzel’s expressive forms and signature brushwork up close.

John Wenzel’s story is one of resilience, experimentation, and lifelong curiosity. Raised in Lorain, Ohio, his early exposure to art came under unconventional circumstances—his first official art class was led by the school’s basketball coach, who openly admitted he had no idea what he was doing. But that didn’t matter. Wenzel leaned in, discovering a love for creative expression that would ultimately define his life.

He later studied at Ohio University, where ceramics took center stage. The tactile, hands-on nature of the medium felt like home, even as painting and design remained part of his visual vocabulary. In 1965, he opened his first studio in Los Angeles, eventually making his way to Colorado, where he continues to work today.

What sets Wenzel apart is the fusion of painterly abstraction with the grounded, functional form of stoneware pottery. His glazing technique—a blend of spontaneity and control—turns each vessel into a canvas of motion and mood. In Glazescapes, these pieces become landscapes in their own right: gestural, intentional, and undeniably alive.

Ceramics, for Wenzel, is not just a medium—it’s a way of life. His practice has become a family affair, with many pieces created in collaboration with his son Elan Wenzel, a Denver-based chef and owner of The Element Knife Company. With a spouse and daughter also active in the arts, creativity runs deep in the Wenzel household.