ARTIST STATEMENT, 2010

love working on a Leach (potter’s) Wheel, which is a treadle wheel with no motor. Consequently, I cannot make big pots in one sitting. I have to make parts, put them together, and shape the joined pieces. I usually work on six pots at a time. It’s such a treat to watch the six forms develop and finally see a family of completed pots.

Six years ago, I became interested in the work of the English potter, Lucie Rie. I read her glaze notes and began LOOKING closely at her forms. How did she make these simple forms with big bellies, cinched necks, and small feet? I put a photo of one of her most famous pots on my studio wall to be my inspiration. I treasure every minute I spent with Lucie. Though I never met her, she taught me to see pots in a different way. She taught me to look at form. For several years, I concentrated on making simple expressive forms, influenced by her. The pots were elegant and quiet, leaving room for bold surfaces with occasional marks but little decoration.

Forms made on a potter’s wheel are particular. They are round. Wheel thrown vessels sometimes look slick, as though they were turned on a lathe; sometimes they look alive with gesture. But the work of Lucie Rie attracted me because it is neither. Her vessels are sculptural FORM.

In 2009, I began investigating handles. It was a radical departure. How do you add to substantial form? I fell in love with the Greek form called Loutrophorus, a pot used in marriage ceremonies. It stood on a long stem and had an even longer neck. For me it was hard to make, but the challenge was a window to revisit the genius of Greek form and handles.

In ancient Greece the potters made the vessels and the painters decorated them. When I realized this, I felt free to explore different kinds of surfaces. These forms grew out of Greece but were not classically Greek. I discovered simple ways to color clay and change surface texture. These colored clays are what we potters call slips. I could almost finger paint with them. They often crackle and peel and settle into these “accidental” surfaces.

• #820, #815, and #816, stoneware ceramic pots, 18 x 8”, 2008
• #837, #845, #847, stoneware ceramic pots, 18 x 8”, 2008

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ARTIST STATEMENT, 2005

Looking and making…until recently, my experience with pots has been about surface and decoration.

Three years ago I became interested in the work of the English potter, Lucie Rie. I researched her surfaces; but I also began LOOKING at her forms, trying to determine how she made these simple forms with extended bellies, cinched necks, and small feet. I put a photo of one of her pots on my studio wall so that I could look at it as I threw on my wheel. I've loved every minute. Lucie Rie has taught me to look past surface decoration, to see the form.

Forms made on a potter's wheel are particular. They are round. Wheel-thrown vessels sometimes look slick, as though they were turned on a lathe; sometimes, they look alive with gesture. But the work of Lucie Rie attracted me because it is neither. Her vessels are sculptural FORM.

I have taken Lucie Rie as my mentor, and she has shown me where in the world of clay I want to be. For me, it is enough to make simple vessels with strong, graceful, profiles.