Playing with clay, digging down into the earth to find a vein of clay, pinching small bowls and vases, putting them in the oven to bake and harden – these are all memories from my childhood. So in the early '70's when a new craft center, Callanwolde, opened up in Atlanta, I enrolled in the first pottery class offered. And I never left the studio.
A three year apprenticeship under Rick Berman, countless workshops with masters of clay including Peter Voulkos, Ron Meyers, Michael Simon, and a summer session at Penland with Warren Mackenzie formed the basis for my work in clay. The traditions of pottery made for everyday use as practiced by the folk potters in North Georgia, in the studios of Shoji Hamada in Japan and Bernard Leach in England were the basis for a lifetime of pottery making.
There are many things to love about working with clay: the meditation of forming pots on the wheel, finding the right color and texture for a glaze, the magic of “fire” in transforming the fragile to the durable. There is also the rhythm of the life of a craftsman. How the creation of simple ware to be used everyday - from raw material to wheel to fire to table – can flow like the seasons.
After more then 35 years of working with clay, I'm still learning, still trying to find that place of perfect center where the spirit flows from the heart and is captured in the pot created. I hope that these simple pots bring you much pleasure – everyday.
A three year apprenticeship under Rick Berman, countless workshops with masters of clay including Peter Voulkos, Ron Meyers, Michael Simon, and a summer session at Penland with Warren Mackenzie formed the basis for my work in clay. The traditions of pottery made for everyday use as practiced by the folk potters in North Georgia, in the studios of Shoji Hamada in Japan and Bernard Leach in England were the basis for a lifetime of pottery making.
There are many things to love about working with clay: the meditation of forming pots on the wheel, finding the right color and texture for a glaze, the magic of “fire” in transforming the fragile to the durable. There is also the rhythm of the life of a craftsman. How the creation of simple ware to be used everyday - from raw material to wheel to fire to table – can flow like the seasons.
After more then 35 years of working with clay, I'm still learning, still trying to find that place of perfect center where the spirit flows from the heart and is captured in the pot created. I hope that these simple pots bring you much pleasure – everyday.
Mary Trotochaud |