“My Sixth Day” ~ creating the animals

Feb 27

I was so happy today to hang a show of small bowls at Findings Art Gallery in Lynchburg, Virginia.

For the next three months I’ll be refilling a wall of hand thrown 25 bowls, each painted with one of my animal neighbors. I’m very curious to see which animals find new home first!

My animal portraits are part of an ongoing pottery sketchbook documenting my neighbors. Living in the forest in Virginia, all my neighbors are animals– wild and domesticated. I try to capture these creatures’ individuality, and I’m always amused by the personalities that emerge. The process of making them makes me feel more gentle towards them– living among wild things can sometimes feel like a battle rather than peaceful cohabitation, but the process of regular documentation of them encourages appreciation. The reception of the pieces is always half the pleasure of making them– I love watching folks connect with an animal, and then choose to live with it– these are pieces that are meant to disperse into a new wilderness.

The process of making ceramics is wildly different from painting in oils, and the changes that happen in the 2000+ degree kiln can change the personality of a painting or a vessel, and always move a piece away from what I imagined for it. In that way, the process of making pottery is about letting go, of allowing some wildness. The tension between the very wild process and subject of these bowls, and their intimate resting places in peoples’ homes feels right. Making domestic objects matters deeply to me. Sometimes the things we hold close, in our homes, quietly shape us. I’m always honored when someone else wants to hold my work in their hands.