Richard Burkett has made pottery for over 55 years, starting in 1970 with a summer job throwing ashtrays on the potter's wheel for the late Indiana potter Richard Peeler. Burkett established his own Wild Rose Pottery in 1973 on a farm near Bainbridge Indiana, where he made salt glazed pottery for about ten years. Returning to school in 1983, Richard completed a dual MFA in ceramics and photography at Indiana University- Bloomington in 1986. He has taught ceramics since that time, first at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and since 1989 at San Diego State University, where he is currently a Professor of Art. Richard's work continues to include a range of ceramics objects, from functional stoneware and porcelain to clay and mixed-media sculpture.