|
MY WORK
I am in love with clay. It has been a major part of my life for over 35 years. I am a traditional potter and each piece is individually made. My work has recently taken a new direction. I have stopped throwing on the potter's wheel and now concentrate totally on handbuilt pieces.
TECHNIQUE
My handbuilding involves working with slabs of clay and lots of texture. I roll out the slab, texture the surface and then construct the form. Texturing clay is very exciting and i am always looking for new objects to press into the clay. Many of my stamps I carve myself from blocks of wood. Handbuilding is a more time consuming method of working, but it creates shapes and designs that cannot be achieved with the potter's wheel. Some of my designs are similar but vary depending on my mood when I create them, and how the firing affects each piece.
All of my pottery is stoneware clay and is lead free and food safe. It is fired to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit in a gas kiln. This combination of stoneware and gas firing produces subtle, varied colors not found in electric firing.
About half o my work is finished with an iron oxide stain to emphasize the texture of the clay. I use three different clay bodies, which give me variations in the color of the natural clay. The other half of my work is glazed. My glazes are semi-matts in soft colors of stone, greyed blues and turquoises combined with a charcoal/black glaze.
The forms I create are plates of many sizes and shapes, vases, and wall plaques.
|
