I make pots for utilitarian, aesthetic, and contemplative needs
Zuli here at 4 months old
My work as an artist is to help people draw strength, and comfort through aesthetics. By offering virtuous pots for everyday lives, I help people be in touch, literally, with their bodies, their senses, and earth itself. Pots move people. Beauty nourishes the soul. I can put it right in your hands and help you drink from it.
Today, as never before, all of the world’s traditions and cultures, ideas and aspirations, wisdoms and reflections are accessible through study and communication. To be a 21st century potter for me is to be part of centuries of makers from around the world.
I have an early memory/ story of visiting the World’s Fair in New York City in a stroller with my family. My story is a coming of age story contextualized at a point in time in the United States. My growing up aligns with the country and the planet as it has aged and grown into the first decades of the 21st century. As I have lived and grown, the world has become smaller, more known, more populated and more traveled.
Working with the earth through geologic and ceramic processes, I draw from the wealth of things made, things learned, and things valued to create both intuitively and with intent, both in relation to tradition and to the “has not yet been” .
I make unique ceramics to serve physical, contemplative and aesthetic needs today, in 2023.
My work as an artist helps people celebrate and appreciate life through the wonder of the ordinary and the beauty of each and every day.
Sharing my heart and soul through what I make brings me joy. My work is only completed when it finds a home in other peoples lives; their hands, their hearts, the spaces and rituals they create. I'm not nostalgic for another time or place, rather I want to participate in investing today's world with the wealth and value of hand made, rich and vital objects. These pots offer an invitation to regularly experience the wonder of being human; tangible in touching, eating and drinking, seeing, breathing, and nourishing ourselves with beauty.
The center of a Persian bowl with wad marks where another bowl was stacked. Cobalt blue fuming.
Iran 13th - 14th century
Emily, Zuli and I live not so far from the ocean, pictured here, in SE Portland. Emily works both as an artist and as an educator at Pacific Northwest College of Art. www.emilyginsburgstudio.com/
We both have studios at home on Liebe Street.
