Studio Craft at Indiana University

Karl Martz was born on June 24th, 1912 in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Bloomington High School and graduated from Indiana University in 1933 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He took graduate courses in ceramics at Ohio State University from 1933-1934. Karl met his wife and fellow ceramicist, Margaret Rebecca “Becky” Brown, at IU, and they got married in 1935.

Karl apprenticed with the Brown County Pottery studio from 1934-1935, and worked out of his own studio in Nashville, Indiana, until 1942. From 1943-1944, Karl worked as an assistant ceramicist for the Armour Research Foundation in Chicago. In 1945, Karl started IU’s ceramics program and taught courses in ceramics history and technique.

In 1952, Karl attended a two-week symposium at Black Mountain College in North Carolina where he studied with potters Bernard Leach, Hamada Shōji, Marguerite Wildenhain, and Yanagi Sōetsu. He completed three sabbaticals following this symposium, beginning in New York City from 1952 to 1953. His next sabbatical was at the Kyoto University of the Arts in 1963-1964. Finally, Karl and Becky spent five months in Mashiko, Japan between 1971 and 1972. Karl studied under Seto Hiroshi and Sakuma Tōtarō while Becky worked with the Daisei family. 

Karl was named a Fellow of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in 1972. In the spring semester of 1975, he served as Bingham Professor of Humanities at the University of Louisville.

In 1977, Karl retired from IU and the university held a retrospective of his work at the IU Art Museum. He received emeritus status and continued to create and exhibit his pottery. In 1992, he received the American Crafts Council Fellow award.

Karl Martz died on May 27th, 1997 in Bloomington, Indiana.