Sylvia Coppola
Duck Creek Pottery
Indian Trail, North Carolina

Website
www.duckcreekpottery.com 

Email
duckcreekpottery@gmail.com

Artist Statement
I make functional and decorative pots, often thrown and altered along with some handbuilt slab pots. Tea pots are one of my specialties, along with pitchers, vases, mugs, bowls, and other dinnerware. All pots are high-fired reduction.

Studio Description
Duck Creek Pottery Studio is where all of my pots are made. I have two potter's wheels, 2 electric kilns, a slab roller, and a 45-cubic-ft. gas car kiln. There are shelves and pedestals full of pottery, ready for customers.

What type of clay do you use?
Cone 10 Standard 182 and HW Hestia

What temperature do you fire to?
Cone 10

What is your primary forming method?
Throwing

What is your favorite surface treatment?
Texture and reduction glazes

Do you make any of your own tools?
Yes, I've made texture tools for carving and stamping, as well as brushes and a few other tools.

What one word would you use to describe your work?
Textured

What is your favorite thing about your studio?
Convenient

What is the one thing in your studio you can’t live without?
My wheel

What are your top three studio wishes?
A little more space for storing shipping materials and packing. More space for glazing storage. More organization.

What’s on your current reading list?
Winter's Revenge

How do you save money on materials and supplies?
I try to buy in bulk.

How do you recharge creatively?
Reading and working in my flower and vegetable gardens.

What challenges have you given yourself to overcome?
Keeping up with wholesale orders and the paperwork involved in the business.

What did your first piece look like?
Small and handbuilt in a sandy brown color

What ceramic superpower would you have and why?
Throwing large and being able to pick up large pots and placing them in and out of the kiln.

Who is your ceramic art mentor and why?
Joan Byrd–college professor

What is your studio playlist?
70's rock

Why do you create art?
It is very fulfilling to create a pot from a substance as simple as clay and have it used and admired by customers in their daily routine.

What is your best studio tip?
Never give up. Make tons of pots to be good at what you do.

If you could change one property of clay, what would it be?
Cracks