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Timothy Sullivan
Creekside Pottery
Marietta, Georgia

Website: www.creeksidepottery.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/creekside.pottery

Artist Statement: I’ve been working in cone 10 reduction-fired, wheel-thrown pottery since early 1999. I received my BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University in ceramics and painting in 1972, and my MFA in ceramics from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago in 1975. By the time I graduated from SAIC, I had stopped working in clay and had transitioned to mixed-media sculpture. From 1983 to late 1998, I stopped working as an artist or craftsman and was entirely focused on family and a career in IT. In 1998, I relocated to Marietta, Georgia, and in early 2000, I decided to return to clay and pursue a full-time career as a potter. As I thought about working with clay again, I was drawn back to the wheel and functional forms. I knew I couldn’t do salt or soda firings at my home studio, so I purchased a Bailey 18-cubic-foot cone-10 natural gas kiln and began working with various white clay bodies. I had never worked with glazes seriously, so that became my focus. I was immensely aided in my understanding and development of glaze by Greg Daly’s book “Glazes and Glazing Techniques”. As I came to understand the complexities of glazing, I realized that it’s not just formulas. It’s the glazes, the application, clay/glaze interactions, layering, firing processes, the weather, and so much more. What started as a hurdle to overcome became my passion. I love working in a tradition that goes back thousands of years and has been important in every culture and at every time. I love the fact that there is still opportunity for singularity, to stand upon a stone in the stream that has never been stood upon before. For me, clay’s greatest attribute is the potential it offers. I work with functional forms, but I’m not focused on function. Function is the path. Since 2001, I have participated in more than 250 festivals and art fairs throughout the Midwest, East Coast, and South, averaging 14 to 15 a year.

Studio Description: I work in a home studio with both gas and electric kilns.

What type of clay do you use? Porcelain and white stoneware

What temperature do you fire to? Cone 10.

What is your primary forming method? Wheel thrown.

What is your favorite surface treatment? Glaze trailing, brushing and spraying

Do you make any of your own tools? Some

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

What is your favorite thing about your studio? Convenience

What is the one thing in your studio you can’t live without? Pug mill

What are your top three studio wishes? I pretty much have what I need from an equipment standpoint, so more time in the studio and a new source for porcelain.

How do you recharge creatively? Vacations

Why do you create art? Life lived with passion is better.

If you could change one property of clay, what would it be? Consistency in materials and suppliers.