Pottery Making Illustrated Articles (Simple)

As a clay artist with a sculptural background, one of the most satisfying challenges for me is creating lidded containers where the lid fits seamlessly onto the body of the vessel, while also capturing my personal aesthetic.

This lidded server happened somewhere in the trickle-down as I moved this process from larger sculptural vessels into dinnerware.

I am drawn to slip casting because it allows for the replication of forms and encapsulation of details impossible to make otherwise. I find solace in this process; the technical nature of mold making being extremely challenging and rewarding.

While I aim to convey the beauty and joy of nature in my pieces, I also desire my artwork to highlight the necessity of preserving our local ecosystems.

As an avid gardener, flora and fauna serve as the main source of inspiration for my explorations in surface design.

After some experimentation and figuring out what I love to do most in the studio, I found my way back to functional work, much to my surprise.

Excerpted from China Paint and Overglaze, by Paul Lewing, published by the American Ceramic Society.

To achieve my unique surfaces, I add paper to the clay, as its extra-strong, green nature provides ease in joining and drying while allowing me to roll the clay into paper-thin sheets and cut it with scissors.

My artwork celebrates the small things we overlook and embraces individual differences.

Each ceramic artist featured in this issue, which focuses on surface decoration, has contributed a process that employs water in one way or another.

Illustrations of throwing wheels throughout history.

Berry bowls—they’re not just for berries anymore! My berry bowl sits on the kitchen counter year round, usefully cradling such things as cherry tomatoes, shallots, and garlic.

As a potter, one of my favorite things to do is reverse engineer interesting and unique forms and find simple ways to construct them in clay. One such challenge I took was with some old octagonal glass tumblers that I inherited.

I have been pushing what is possible with piping techniques and thick, frosting-like slip for the last 13 years while making artwork about desire, wealth, and power.

it was a way of working that I strongly identified with, and that I’d found my creative direction.

The covered trays I make are the byproduct of my stubborn need to push processes beyond the obvious in an effort to make complex forms that amuse me.

I choose simple forms for my pieces to balance the lavish decorations that adorn them. The subtractive nature of carving combined with the raised slip dots produce a rich, tactile experience that is just as significant as the visual one for the user.

This project is my take on what a soap dish should be. It is funky and bizarre, but fun and practical in a weird way.

I’m excited to share with you the handmade tool I use to create all my mug bases.