In clay are my feelings; into the deep center I go: it becomes a bowl.
To make pottery is to give form to what I love.
Through my bare hands the body and soul meet;
Spirit in a vessel, tried by kiln fire.
A collaboration of the four elements:
earth, air, fire, water.
As a child, I gave up Saturday morning cartoons to go to art class in Boston at the Museum School. I painted pictures of still-lifes, shapely vases with flowers. After class, I'd wait for my Dad to come get me, and had time to wander the place. I often visited the Japanese Garden, a beautiful, quiet place.
In a case was a small brown pot with the mark of the potters hand pushed into the side. I was intrigued by this and stared at it for a long time. What a mystery this was, this pot appeared to be still wet and spinning. It was a Bizen pot. I was 10 years old.
Since that time, I have become a potter. I am making the classic shapes I loved. I am achieving that surface in the wood kilns I have been privileged to use to produce my pottery. Now, more than ever, this influence has channeled through me. I live in San Francisco, on the Pacific Rim, alive with plate tectonics and Asian art. I fire in wood burning kilns, inspired by the traditional processes of ancient kilns.
I teach and work at Ruby's Clay Studio in San Francisco.
I am editor of the ACGA Newsletter and a Master Member of the Baulines Craft Guild.
Pitcher set is currently on view in Showcase with the BCG at 600 Townsend in San Francisco.
Through June 10, 2010
