"I watched a thousand days end with you, I wish we could see one more"
 
This Sunset Bowl is a continuation of a spiral style I began devoloping back in July of last summer. Usually after the piece goes through it's first firing I'll put it back on the wheel, center it, take a dry bamboo brush and some underglaze and let the wheel do the work for me! Sunsets and sunrises have always been a large part of my life here in Vermont. I have more pictures of the sky than anything else on my phone and these spirals feel representative of that. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do!
 
This collection is comprised of both old habits and new experimentation. I've spent the past 4 months working on paintings, prints, and a secret collection (soon to come!) Having all of this time away from the clay studio and instead infront of a canvas or with a pen in hand naturally created some noticeable changes in my ceramic work and the purpose I see it serving. I had 4 months to unlearn what I had taught myself and known as a ceramicist and I'm finding a new joy, curiousity and sense of playfulness with these pieces. Some work may appear more childlike and whimsical others more mature and serene. Collectively these works create a book, each page (mug, bowl, vessel, etc.) a new thought, feeling, phrase or idea. Each of these pieces is informed by all of the 2D work I've been working on behind the scenes for the past 4 months and is done withought planning, rather an innate emotion and necessity to share and the permanence of ceramics allows for these pages, pieces, ideas and emotions live on past me. 
 
This piece was infact made with the natural clay bodies I harvest by hand from the forest behind my house! Part of why I spent 4 months away from pottery was because my forest has recently been deforested for what I later learned was merely profit because we have a national wood shortage and prices are higher than ever. Going into the the forest to harvest clay before snowfall and trying to make pieces out of the same fores that I felt already had so many of it's rights violeted, felt wrong. Taking more (clay) from a forest that already had so much taken without it have a say, felt wrong. I know what I'm doing is special and I hope that my work reminds others to appreciate the beauty of their own enviornment, including the literal earth (dirt/clay) they walk on. Nonetheless making work during this incredibly emotional time was challenging. So I hope if you do take one of these pieces hone you appreciate it as I do. 
 
PLEASE NOTE:  Natural clay bodies often contain organic materials which create "burnout holes' in the clay. These are holes created when a piece is constructed with organic material (ie. a stick, root, bug, leaf, etc) still remaining in the clay body. Once the piecce is heated to over 1800 degrees Fahrenheit this organic material combusts leaving a vacant space. These holes prevent the glaze from creating a full and complete coverage. Meaning ALL WORK MADE WITH NATURAL CLAY BODIES IS NOT FOOD SAFE. That being said I eat fruit out of mine all the time.
 
Dimensions
Height: 4in.
Width: 5.5in.
Lendth: 5.5in.