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Pots for Membership

November 2017
Nov 2, 2017

Happy November, and a very happy first birthday to our Pots for Membership program! This month's program marks one year since we began PFM in its monthly format. We couldn't be happier with the overwhelmingly positive response from you each month, thank you! Keep up the support, and join us in welcoming this month's featured artists.

Each month, Studio Potter features a small selection of artists and their work, which is available for sale in our online store for thirty days only. In exchange for the sale of their artwork, the artist (or a chosen beneficiary) will receive a one-year membership to the journal. 

Here are the November 2017 artists: 

Will Van DykeWillVanDike

Will was educated first as an engineer at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, then as an architect at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In between those periods, while enrolled in the U.S. Army, he was introduced to ceramics and pottery at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, where he learned to create simple bowls, plates, and jars with Tom Kerrigan. Will currently studies ceramics at the Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois.

I am a retired architect and have been studying ceramics and pottery since 1968. I have an abiding interest and delight in the visual, whether it is wooden barns, steel bridges, ceramic bowls, concrete silos, or a rusted piece of metal in the street that caught my eye as I walked to work.

The work of the late Toshiko Takaezu, Warren McKenzie, Steve Mickey, Patty Kochaver, and others have inspired me for their simple elegantly shaped vessels and masterful use of slips and glazes.  I have co-led a creativity group based on the “Artist’s Way” at the Unitarian Church of Evanston and led “creativity and play” workshops for adults at my denomination’s summer retreats at Lake Geneva, as I have continued to discover my creative voice. I continue to learn and explore the ceramic medium and wait in excited expectation to see what the kiln goddess will produce after each firing.

Check out Will's piece on our store HERE!  


Marian BakerMarionBaker

Originally from North Syracuse, New York, Marian received a MFA in ceramics from the School for American Crafts in Rochester, New York, and made pots in various studio situations in Wisconsin, San Francisco, New Jersey, and New Zealand before settling in Maine thirty-three years ago. She founded Islesford Pottery on the Islesford Dock in 1989. Although she enjoys teaching part-time at Maine College of Art in Portland, she can think of few better places to be than on the dock in her summer studio making pots and visiting with island folks each season. 

I make useful pots for two principal reasons; because I love to make them and because I hope to enrich the lives of the users. I choose colors and designs that are rooted in nature: ocean, beach stones, moss, and sky. Inspiration for forms comes from traditions of English and Japanese pottery. It is my intent to then add my own ideas about function and material, as well as to reveal and honor the ceramics process. I see my pots as a bridge between art and daily life.

See more of Marian's work at https://marianbakerpottery.com

Check out her piece on our store HERE!


Susan Speck SusanSpeck

Susan was an elementary visual arts teacher for thirty-four years, but has worked as an adjunct ceramics instructor since 2008. She is currently teaching at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Susan was a founding member and serves on the board of KC Clay Guild, a 29-year-old ceramic art center in Kansas City, Missouri.  She also helped found and chair the KC Clay Guild Teabowl National, now in its eighth year.  She has shown her work locally to internationally and presented in the Process Room at 2017 NCECA.

I come from a strong family tradition of creating with one’s hands...quilt makers, woodcarvers, furniture makers, illustrators, and painters. It is natural to me to want to make things, and I have done so my entire life. I started making pots in 1973 by taking a few classes in college. I am self-taught since then, and attended my first hands-on workshop at Arrowmont this past summer. 

I am drawn to pattern, whether two- or three-dimensional. My pieces have textural surfaces, made by rolling paper and plastic stencils over my slabs, or by using several of hundreds of handmade bisque-ware stamps. I also use color-pattern, made with oxide and stain washes, and splashes of underglaze and glaze. I often use sprigs, whimsical handles, and sculptural elements to complete each piece. 

See more of Susan's work at www.susanspeck.com

Check out Susan's piece on our store HERE!  


Lindsay Oesterritter MeredithHost

Lindsay Oesterritter is currently Director of Objective Clay, Co-Founder and Organizer of National Clay Week, and a full time studio potter. She earned her MFA from Utah State University in Logan Utah. She taught at Western Kentucky University (2009-2015) and earned an Associate Professor position in 2015. Lindsay was a resident artist at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg (2008-2009) and in Australia at Strathnairn Arts Association (summer, 2009).  She lectures and exhibits nationally and internationally, and is continually inspired by the craft community. 

My work is inspired by the inseparable relationship between time and place, and form and surface. 

River stones, worn leather, and antique industrial objects are all uniquely changed by the environment in which they exist. When I work with clay I convey a similar narration of time and place. I work in an intentionally straightforward manner, choosing the clay and combination of processes for the marks that will be left behind.  The processes of making are recorded on the surface of the object and begin to reveal the qualities of the material and tell a visual story. 

I employ the wood firing process and reduction cooling techniques to highlight form and surface variations, and reference the slow and continuous passage of time. Through wood firing, the form and surface become unique to the singular object. 

See more of Lindsay's work at loceramics.com

Check out Lindsay's piece on our store HERE!


Marion Angelica MarionAngelica

Marion is a biology and art major, arts administrator, academic, and ceramic artist. Although trained to throw on the wheel, she now exclusively hand-builds all of her work. She is currently a resident studio artist and teacher at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Marion returned to the studio in 2006 after over twenty-five years of working in arts administration, education, and nonprofit consulting. She is incredibly happy in what was her first, and now is her final career.

Hand-building, and in particular using soft slabs and coils, gives me a great of flexibility in creating form, using texture, and reflecting the luscious nature of wet clay in my fired work. My work is made of Grolleg porcelain fired to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit.  While known to be temperamental, porcelain has lovely qualities.  It accepts even the most subtle textures and allows glaze colors to be rich and brilliant. With tender handling and careful drying, it can be cajoled into a wide variety of forms.  I have fallen in love with this media, with both my hands and my heart.

See more of Marion's work at www.marionangelica.com

Check out Marion's piece on our store HERE!


Meredith Host MeredithHost

Meredith Host was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She received her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute in 2001, and her MFA from The Ohio State University in 2008. She was named one of the 2011 NCECA and Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artists. In 2016, she was a presenter at the Utilitarian Clay Symposium at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Currently, Meredith is a full time studio potter based in Kansas City, Missouri, and teaches workshops around the country. She is a founding member of the Kansas City Urban Potters.

I am a collector of overlooked patterns---patterns you see on a daily basis. Every time I enter a restroom, I immediately look at the toilet paper roll. If I have not seen this subtle embossed design before, I will take a few squares and place them in my pocket. I obsess about these found, ubiquitous domestic patterns contained in the paper products we see, use, and throwaway every day.

The prevalence of these dimpled decorations in our daily life renders them invisible, their utility questionable. We barely notice them and take them for granted. In this body of work, I am taking these motifs and reintroducing them by transferring them from one material to another. The conversion from something ephemeral into something permanent intrigues me. Ultimately, I am giving these patterns visibility and celebrating their presence in the context of other domestic objects meant for daily use.

See more of Meredith's work at www.meredithhost.com

Check out Meredith's piece on our store HERE


Want to find out more about the program or submit a piece of your own? 

Email sophie@studiopotter.org

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