Artist Statement

Hands touching clay, I am truly alive: Soul, spirit, body, connected. Clay forms speak to us as we eat, drink, and view the world around us. This inspires me at the wheel, where I am centered and connected to Earth, to create functional vessels that live and breathe. 

I make pots in small families using a variety of clay bodies and am interested in how the same clay body + glazes can vary in kiln atmospheres with different fuel sources and environments and firing methods: gas, wood, electric. Some pieces also receive a soda or salt ‘seasoning’ in their respective firings.

Duality drives the making and decorating of my pots, such as the intersection of natural and urban environments where tangled vines, leaves, grasses, and weeds demonstrate both fragility and power over the human world. Opposite archetypal shapes seek to balance and provide rhythm; deliberate lines and squares oppose swirls, arcs and circles.

Negative space in the open vessel series provides simplicity and opportunity for new value, transformation and preservation of self. The vessels suggest both fragility and strength, properties of clay at various stages in the making and firing process.

Clay heals. It has the power to heal both the maker and the user of ceramic forms. Created by one human for another, clay invites all of us to its table.

—-Susan Messer McBride