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"The warmth of friends, visiting and conversing, is celebrated by sharing food and drink, artfully served to feast the eye and add to the festivity."
- Anon.
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I have been a self-supporting production potter since 1971. For many years, I worked with wood-firing techniques. I have
recently changed my focus to gas-fire. Though my pieces are expressive and unique, I have never abandoned my concern for functionality. The ware is oven-proof and microwave safe. But, I strive to give "life" to each pot.
I use an 88 cubic foot, hard brick kiln, fired on propane to 2350 degrees fahrenheit. Twenty-five pounds of salt
is introduced at cone 8.
The past few years have led my journey as a potter down new roads - roads of exploration, questions and challenges. Years of producing functional production pottery had provided a comfortable existence but at the same time eventually produced burnout and boredom.
In order to regain my passion for clay, I pushed myself beyond that "comfort zone" of knowing what I did well. I attended a workshop in woodfiring and I became totally enamored of the process. I built a wood-fired kiln and my production pots came out of that kiln looking static and lifeless.
The wood firing seemed to require a form that reflected the life of the fire, flame and ash moving through the pots. Soon the clay that I had grown tired of was challenging me in new ways. So I had to relearn the forming of the clay, attended graduate school briefly, and basically ventured into the unknown, the unfamiliar.
The path of the last 10 years has been vastly rewarding and sometimes disappointing. I recently built a salt kiln from the bricks of my "Phoenix" wood kiln and am once again being challenged by a new form of firing. I continue to create functional pottery, but my work has taken on a life and personality derived from the types of firings I’ve done recently.
The clay is informing me as much as I am forming it. The work has become more animated and expressive. I hope it adds to the dialogue between friends as they sit down to enjoy food and drink.
Blooming Grove Studio- Macrobiotic Links
