Peter Jadoonath - Host Potter
My focus in making pottery for twenty-eight years has been about wandering within the material. I’m better at asking questions than I am at providing answers. If there is a defining goal for me over this time, it’s been to make drawings that are pots and pots that are drawings.
It’s never been my intention to have a style, there were times I pursued “style”, but most of the time it was an aspect or technique that I lifted from elsewhere and then I proceeded to beat it into the ground. It’s taken me a long time to express myself within the material. Part of that was developing a toolbox of skills, but another part of that was me just getting tired of not being honest with who I am or what I am interested in. People often say to me “you change your work so much”. I’m not sure what to say. I’ve never seen it as much of a change, it’s just evolution for myself. If I couldn’t do that then I would find something else to do.
I stumbled on making pots at Bemidji State University in 1996. The material and the rich tradition of craft in Minnesota was alluring. Over the course of time, I worked in a Lowertown St. Paul, eventually a basement St. Paul home studio, and now to home studio in Shafer, Mineesota. We’ve been putting on the Backyard Sale in since 2010 and recently my family and I started hosting the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. Fun is always the goal.
30208 Tern Ave, Shafer, MN 55074
Showroom open by appointment
peterjadoonathpottery.com
Instagram: @jadoonath
Kurt Anderson, Spruce Pine, NC
Invent a universe. Give it its own rules, it’s own logic. Break the rules, bend the logic. Fill it with beauty and terror. Laughter and joy and misery and sorrow. Don’t leave anything out. The breadth and width of human emotions. It’s all valid. Doodle it. Doodle hard. Doodle your way to victory. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget where you came from. Once you were a kid watching the Jetsons all alone on Saturday. You were the dog left at the shelter, the free kitten in a box outside the grocery store. The awkward teenager with the gay dad, terrified people would find out. Now you’re a stone gargoyle perched atop the cathedral, wondering WTF is going on down there. You’ve seen so much. Packed it all away. It’s all filed away. Remember all of it. Use all of it, feel all of it. They invited you in so show them what you’ve seen. Don’t hold anything back.
kurtandersonpottery.com
Instagram: @kurtandersonpottery
Christina Erives, Arleta, CA
I think what has stood out to me most since entering the field of ceramics is the community of people it seems to always attract. Clay has the power to connect people from all over the world and as a material offers us so much malleability giving us the opportunity to share our individual stories in such a beautiful way as it takes on an endless possibility of color shape and form. Ceramics as material has permanence , it is one of the ways we were able to learn about ancient cultures. There is so much beauty in these traditions and my aim has been to make a mark of my time that will be preserved in the history of ceramic objects
www.christinamargaritaerives.com
Instagram: @christinamargaritaerives
Bianka Groves, Santa Fe, NM
Bianka is a potter in New Mexico and has studied ceramics all over the country along with teaching pottery at Baltimore Clayworks, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Santa Fe Clay, and the University of New Mexico. Her work is thoughtfully functional and has the ability to complete the elegance of any interior space. The polished composition of her designs is an ode to the simplistic repetition and studies of minimalist design, architecture, and landscapes. When she’s not making pots out of her backyard home studio, you can find her hiking in the desert with her dogs.
artaxis.org/artist/bianka-groves
Instagram: @bianka_groves_delacruz
Hiroe Hanazono, Philadelphia, PA
Originally from Japan, I am a Philadelphia-based ceramic artist who produces uniquely designed porcelain and stoneware tableware in my home studio.
My upbringing in a Japanese household and my life-long passion for food drive me to design and create dishes that enrich the presentation of food while enhancing the dining experience.
I create work that consists of simple line forms with muted surface colors. The minimal design of my forms create an ideal setting for the display of food. My process includes wheel throwing, hand-building to slip casting.
hiroehanazono.com
Instagram: @hiroehanazono
Ryan Myers, Stoughton, WI
Many of the objects I create join the realms of sculpture and utility. I am not always concerned with “pretty,” though I do believe that form, color, and shape are important. The notion of function in my work is important as well, but is not the primary focus. My vessels are created using a combination of thrown and hand-building processes. Each object carries its own story and history that is created as the viewer relates to that vessel, and uses it in their daily life.
ryanmyersceramics.com
Instagram: @RyanMyersCeramics
Lindsay Oesterritter, Manassas, VA
My work is inspired by the inseparable relationship between time and place, and form and surface.
River stones, worn leather, and antique industrial objects are all uniquely changed by the environment in which they exist. When I work with clay I convey a similar narration of time and place. I work in an intentionally straightforward manner, choosing the clay and combination of processes for the marks that will be left behind. The processes of making are recorded on the surface of the object and begin to reveal the qualities of the material and tell a visual story.
I utilize the wood firing process and reduction cool techniques to continue to highlight form and surface variations, and reference the slow and continuous passage of time. Through wood firing, the form and surface become unique to the singular object.
www.loceramics.com
Visit Lindsay’s webshop
Instagram: @alindsayo
Lisa Orr, Northborough, MA
My artworks for the table refer to traditional porcelain or restaurant whitewares, but with softer forms inspired by the playful and abundant qualities of Mexican earthenware. After forming pieces in molds, on the wheel, or both, I finish with gestural animals, stamps, slips, sprigs and multihued glazes. To some, my jeweltone glaze colors evoke a healthy garden in bloom or an underwater seascape. My colors, textures and strength of my forms set my work apart; my forms are muscular and strong but also fluid. I engage both ends of the spectrum, from the dynamic and substantive to the detailed and dreamy—I celebrate tiny surprises in my work. My colorful, shapely earthenware looks best holding a freshly prepared meal on the table.
Nate Pidduck, Santa Paula, CA
As a potter I make functional objects for the kitchen, table and home. There is a specific beauty found only in objects made by hand meant for daily use. While the beauty of a cup may not be the same as that of a painting or sculpture, a handmade cup finds intimacy as it is brought to ones lips in the daily ritual of drinking. I want my pots to encourage the user to slow down during these daily rituals. To be present, pay attention, and to enjoy the moments. Such connections are at the heart of the human experience. I am drawn to worn wooden handles and the weathered metal of hand tools where the users time spent with the tool is recorded in it’s wear. This is what I find so appealing about clay, the soft clay records the maker’s touch. Clay can be moved and stretched allowing the maker to choose if and how to leave their mark. This careful, intentioned touch is what I look for in pots. Machines can make flawless ceramic pots but the pots I appreciate most reveal something about the maker and their process. The marks have a story to tell.
www.natepidduck.com
Visit Nate’s webshop
Instagram: @natepidduckpottery
Joe Singewald, Cold Spring, MN
I am a functional potter working in central Minnesota. My forms are influenced and inspired by the history of pots and potters who gathered clay, formed, and fired kilns.
I love how clay and glaze promote all possibilities of gestural moments that are forever recorded: soft finger marks left in the wall of a yunomi, hard-edged tool marks on a soup bowl foot, or thick, flowing glaze poured over a dinner plate.
Without limits, I am consistently exploring methods of achieving surface depth by layering clay and texture, slip and glaze. Unloading finished pieces from a glaze kiln only promotes my desire to experiment, with hopes to discover a new subtle element of excitement.
joesingewaldpottery.com
Visit Joe's webshop
Instagram: @joesingewaldpottery