🎧 2023 Emerging Artist: Sam Oliver, Tryon, North Carolina Ceramics Monthly
Appears in the May 2023 issue of Ceramics Monthly.
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The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
Ceramics Monthly: How do you come up with the forms and surfaces that are prevalent in your work, and why have you chosen the techniques you use?
Sam Oliver: My daily practices and rituals are what mostly inform my pieces. My work is an example of my personal comforts and interests—like drinking copious amounts of coffee out of a handmade mug or working around the yard. The rough, unglazed surfaces with delicate flowers and leaves take me back to the garden, where I love to spend my time learning the diversity of plant life.
The historical lineage of pottery has been a big inspiration in my current work. I particularly love the high-contrast and elegantly decorated Kamares ware vessels from the Middle Minoan period, around 2100–1550 BCE.
I prefer using slab-building and coil-building methods to create my pieces because they allow me to loosen up my forms while creating fluidity and volume with heavy slip application. The floral details are based on my sketches of native and invasive plant species in North Carolina. I scan the sketches and cut them into Tyvek stencils using a digital die-cutting machine. This method is fast, so it frees up time for me to go deeper in my decorating process, and create more intricately layered designs.
CM: What role(s) do you think makers play within our current culture? How do you think you contribute to it?
SO: If I eat a salad out of a bowl, there’s no surprise that I consider the bowl’s craftsmanship. But when I’m sitting around a dinner table full of handmade wares with friends, some of whom may be non-artists, the conversation inevitably steers toward the handmade pottery, the forged cutlery, the blown-glass tumblers, and the woven placemats we are using. There is a preciousness that is clear to anyone who experiences these pieces. Through their work, makers are sharing their personal experiences. This has the power to lay the foundations for a dialog, be it political, social, or about the love of a salad bowl. Makers are fundamental in culture because they create valuable connections and challenge our perspectives. As a maker, I strive to create pieces capable of initiating conversations promoting bee-loving landscapes and sustainable gardening practices. I make my contribution fully aware and hopeful that my pots will be found filthy with use, and well loved in the kitchen sink.
Learn more at www.samanthaoliver.com.
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