visiting artists

Hayne Bayless

"The unintended result, often misread as a mistake and so dismissed, is one of the most fertile sources of new ideas. The trick is not to fool with clay's inherent desire to be expressive. Pay attention to the clay, not only for the sake of each piece, but because the clay will offer - or impose - its own suggestions of new forms and ways to work. My pots are not so much about harmony, although that does happen, but more about tension. I love what spawns in the friction between what I want the material to do and what it would rather do."

Malcolm Davis

Malcolm Davis works exclusively in porcelain and is famed for the shino glaze named after him.  His studio is in West Virginia, but he travels extensively to teach around the country.  He has recieived numerous grants, prizes and awards, and his work is in many prestigious collections. "I first touched clay at age 40 and knew immediately that I had been a potter all along. I love to make pots! For me, the joy and the challenge comes from making things that will become an intimate part of the daily lives of others - pots that will be held, eaten from, poured from, sipped from and perhaps even licked from. For me the making of pots is a way to celebrate the mundane rituals of daily life and to make them holy."

Rosanne Ebner

In a society where everything is becoming disposable, I find I am drawn to older structures and their weathered surfaces. Observing the resilience of a decaying structure trying to survive the elements and the beauty and depth in the layers that build up over time, I experience a sense of the history of that structure and how it evolved. Often we judge the outside appearance of something before we invest the time to explore the interior. Combining these two elements, I hope to create an unexpected environment within the sculpture to draw the viewer in.

Lucy Fagella

The sheer physical nature of pottery making fills many aspects of my being. It satisfies both the artist and the athlete in me. Pottery is a constant quiet motion; the rhythms are like meditation, moving meditation. This clay... this stuff of life: so ordinary yet so extraordinary as it passes through the potter's hands. I am blessed that my hands become co-creators in this great mystery of creation.

Phyllis Kudder Sullivan

Phyllis Kudder Sullivan continues the inward-looking theme of worlds-within-worlds through an architectonic approach to the vessel. She explores the subtle nuances of the hidden, hollow, inner space, a requisite characteristic of both the clay vessel and architecture. The technique of interlacing allows her to address issues of fragility and strength, density and porosity; and convey the concept of containment while blurring the boundaries between in and out.

Jay Lindsay

Jay Lindsay graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA in Painting and Drawing. He studied ceramics for 4 years with Robert James. His work has been exhibited in numerous shows, in private collections and at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in NYC. He was the director of the ceramics program at the Garrison Art Center for 14 years. He has designed and constructed high fire gas kilns throughout the northeast.

Kristin Muller

The first part of my life was spent in South and North America, moving from country to country, state to state, attending over 14 schools. In college, I took a ceramics class and quickly became obsessed with clay. The plastic nature of the material to become anything the maker desires is compelling for me. The fact that through high heat this material becomes solid and permanent as rock is another reason that I am fascinated with the entire process of creating with clay.

Rene Murray

All of my work has its foundation in the age-old techniques and conventions of the potter. There is a flow in my work, from one piece to another, from one series to another. A new idea takes shape. The first successful piece inspires the next.

Bunny Safari

I draw inspiration from my travel experiences. The architecture of mud structures in Mali has held my attention since my visit in 2001. I am currently working on an experimental series of lidded jars inspired by the Dogon people's mud buildings and the various mud mosques of Mali. Wherever I have travelled, I try to incorporate some of my experiences as part of my creative process.

Bill Shillalies

"I have been working in clay for 25 years. Working in woodfiring, pit firing, horse hair firing, soda firing and raku, my vessels take their influences from natural forces in our environment. I find physical impules are represented in the process of creating the work and the finished piece."

Jeff Shapiro

I respond to the beauty that exists in the imperfections of Nature; a sense that perfection as we know it does not necessarily equate with beauty, that in actuality, beauty exists. It is for us to behold, discover and expand our vision to appreciate a beauty that exists outside of a predetermined western perception.

Luca Tripaldi

Luca Tripaldi was born in Turin in 1969. He graduated in visual arts and for some time, while studying autodidact ceramics, he worked for a number of advertising companies in graphic advertising and in opera theatres as a sculptor. In 1998 he opened his own ceramics workshop in Turin. In his beginning he has been particularly interested on the development of smoke firing techniques and fascinated by the qualities of the surfaces that these processes can offer. But in recent years he left those techniques and has had a strong interest in studying and developing crystals glazes.

Malcolm Wright

The nature of clay, and my years working with tabletop scale, directs me to a small size that is comfortable, yet retains power. I am interested in dry surfaces, without ash build up, and negative space. I think the sense of Japanese restraint and Western minimalism combine the forms and ideas I studied more that 40 years ago.