Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

Truth is, I’m not the most social-media savvy person. Quite frankly, I forget to even look it. I’m not sure what that says about me, other than I’m a bit of an introvert.

Swap out the standard X-Acto blade for more complex blades to make different marks and cuts in clay. Customize the tool by making your own inserts out of lengths of wire, a bit of sponge, coins for bo

From time to time a student brings me a catalog page showing a bowl with an attached pocket for crackers. The image they always bring in is of a blocky, awkward, mass-produced slip-cast piece with a u

After so many years of making round pots on the wheel, I wanted some to be oval. Or better yet, egg shaped, in keeping with an old moniker. So I made a few oval-shaped bisque hump molds and started pl

My fascination with botanicals grew out of the hours spent playing in the woods as a child and watching my father tend to his vegetable and flower gardens. Pottery has given me an opportunity to revis

Shortly after graduating from college, I came up with a line of pottery using thrown and altered forms, a black wash, and green and yellow glazes. Nine years later, after staying home to raise two kid

Just as clay has a strong physical memory, one of my most vivid early memories of using pottery was eating ice cream from a heavily grogged stoneware bowl at my grandmother’s house, back in the 1980s.

The evolution of my sprigged jars illustrates that form, surface, and texture have been very meaningful to my artistic development and research. While exploring robust femininity in porcelain and how

I’ve always loved bacon, but never anticipated incorporating the idea of bacon into my work until after visiting the Texas hill country late last year. I met an artist there who was using stained clay

I build pots to function as a canvas for my glazing. I pinch and coil my pots because this process is organic, slow, and methodical. Pinching leaves evidence of touch in the clay, providing a subtle t

Low-fire commercial glazes can be successfully layered to build effects and change the appearance of the individual glazes. Many low-fire glazes, like Mayco’s Foundations line, were made to self-level

The current ceramic art and pottery I create has an abundance of color and depth through layered underglazes and glazes. I was initially influenced heavily by the paintings my father had been making i

One of the best tasks of my job, and one of the most difficult, is choosing the cover for each issue. The cover is our one chance to make a first impression.

Tiles shapes and patterns hand-drawn images. Drawn by Robin Ouellette.

The impetus for my dough bowls came from boredom. I had been making large serving trays using drape molds, but the predictability of molded forms had started to feel lifeless. I needed to inject some

Drawing inspiration from these films, I’m primarily interested in their set and prop design. I address the monocultural phenomenon by referencing forms, shapes, patterns, and colors that allude to a c

An idea of ritual accompanies the use of functional art. Interacting with objects that improve your daily routine and enrich typically mundane moments helps create that ritual. This concept surroundin

It’s important to me that my work is both functional and highly decorative. I combine handbuilt and wheel-thrown elements in my pieces, and overlay colors and patterns many times to create depth. I of

The representation of humanness and connection has always been important to me in my work. I illustrate these things through the use of color, pattern, and texture. It began with the use of lace and s

Observing this collection of artifacts uncovered memories I had of these ever-present ornaments. I could not have described any of these designs prior to seeing them again, but they were immediately r