Mike Helke received his MFA in Ceramic Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and his BFA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. A former NCC studio artist, he currently maintains a studio in River Falls, Wisconsin. Helke received a Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant in 2008 and the Red Wing Collectors’ Society Foundation Award in 2006. About his work, Helke says, “Each piece physically and conceptually records an animate sensibility derived from my experiences. This record is the catalyst for a call and response relationship that exists between maker, object, and user.”