GLAZING

Will Ruggles and Douglass Rankin of Rock Creek Pottery introduced me to the use of local clays and international folk pots made from less refined natural materials. Through their teaching I realized that the elements which compose pottery are alive, and this liveliness can remain and grow through use of a finished pot.

As a Resident Artist at Penland School of Craft, I tested local feldspar, white kaolin and sandy red clay in my wood burning kiln. These minerals are still some of the main ingredients in my pots. Ashes from my wood stove, which essentially melt into glass above 2000° F, are used as the primary flux in the glazes.

The rich, rustic effects achieved by using wild materials mixed with more processed ones keeps an element of unpredictability in my making process. Each kiln load varies and provides new information for the next. I need to be engaged in all that goes into my clay work and feel that my enthusiasm for digging and melting dirt will show in the fired pots!