Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

Pottery Illustrated: Flower Bricks and Tulipieres

In January of 2023, I sat down with a blank piece of paper to write out my goals for the year. I’ve always admired the 100-day challenges artists do throughout the year. So, I decided to create my own challenge to fit my needs.

In this issue, we focus on regional Utah potters and celebrate the winners of the Pottery Making Illustrated annual contest, Extravagance!

Though ceramics can be a fragile material, my work is influenced by materials that, when structured in a specific manner, provide strength, such as yarn in a weaving.

I often choose handbuilding over wheel throwing to embrace the imperfections that highlight the beauty of handmade objects. I use a variety of surface treatments, guided by what each piece calls for.

By creating a contrast between the unglazed exterior and the colorful interior, I draw attention to the earthy, richly pigmented clay of my forms.

Surrounded by the beautiful gardens around my countryside home, I am often inspired to mirror the twisting tendrils of vines or the endless variety of leaves and flowers in the surface of my clay vessels.

I love the dynamic effects that glazes make when flowing over texture. I use craft foam, which I draw on it with a ballpoint pen to create my own texture marks for glaze effects.

Excerpted From Mud to Music by Barry Hall, published by The American Ceramic Society.

I grew up with a potter dad, and my family loves cooking, feeding friends, and eating. That remains important.

My face pots started as a gift for a friend, and they have evolved over the last few years. I plan the pieces beforehand as much as possible, which means determining the height and the diameter for varying sizes and shapes.

Inspiration is everywhere. I am inspired to visually defy the laws of physics with clay and build a double-walled, incised lantern based on the basket weavers of coastal South Carolina.

Ocarinas, a type of vessel flute, have existed for millennia in cultures across the globe. While modern concert-quality ocarinas are typically slip cast or press molded, simpler versions are easily handbuilt.

Once you’ve taken a moment to support your community and secure your studio, I invite you to delve into this issue, which spotlights functional objects—items in your home that you can use or admire, but not necessarily eat or drink from.

Figuring out how to make relief-carved pots has been an exercise in setting up parameters for myself.

Wavy, undulating lines have come to characterize my work. This motif echoes the movement of water and mountains and its repetition provides visual interest.

I recently took the time to focus on my detailed surface designs by slip casting my forms, which saved me forming time—a technique I had long wanted to learn.