Summer Hills-Bonczyk

Summer Joy Hills-Bonczyk (she/her) teaches Ceramic Art courses in the Art & Art History Department at Macalester College. She is a Mac alumna, graduating with a B.A. in Studio Art in 2005. She completed an M.F.A. in Ceramic Art from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 2011. She has received multiple awards and grants including an Artist Travel and Study Grant from the Jerome Foundation and an Individual Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Summer has done Artist residencies around the country including the Hambidge Center, Monson Arts, Anderson Ranch and the Grand Marais Arts Colony.

Professor Hills-Bonczyk’s research and creative practice includes pottery, performance, writing, video, installation and sculpture. Her work responds to our longing for patterns and rituals in a complex and increasingly disembodied world. Her sculpture has been exhibited locally and internationally, including a 2020 exhibition in Antigua, Guatemala as well as the Northern Clay Center, MSP International Airport and the Mira Gallery. She has been a panelist at the National Ceramics Conference (NCECA) and in 2019 she co-curated an exhibition, Strange Place, for the Macalester Law Warschaw Gallery in conjunction with the NCECA Ceramics Conference. Summer is the founder of the Performance Art Intensive (PAI), an immersive, intergenerational retreat that culminates in a wet-clay performance art piece. She has directed and performed various productions locally. 

In her teaching, Professor Hills-Bonczyk prioritizes experimentation, routine and developing one-on-one relationships with her students. She has a passion for working collaboratively with students to build community in the Macalester ceramics studio.