EleanoraEden's Profile

Bio

The child of a gifted artist and craftsman, I spent my childhood learning about fine craftsmanship and the Bauhaus style, surrounded by hand-made furniture and fixtures. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 1969 in ceramics where Peter Voulkos was teaching and where many stars in the art ceramics world had come to work near him. It was an environment like no other and I was a serious potter from the beginning.

I had my first pottery sale in a friend's mom's livingroom in Berkeley in 1967. I have supported myself on sales of pottery since I graduated from college, both through galleries and to customers through fairs. From the first I was doing bright colored brushwork on my pottery I have worked at most temperature ranges. The color palette available at earthenware became the most important consideration and I moved to earthenware exclusively when I moved with my family to Vermont.

My connection with jewelry making goes back to when I worked for my dad who was making silver and gold jewelry both by fabrication and lost-wax processes that he sold nationally through galleries and locally at street fairs in the '50s. All through high-school I did all of the finishing on much of his work; gold and silver soldering, oxidizing, grinding and polishing, applying pearls. I always did a bit of jewelry in clay, and had for years made my own earwires for earrings I bought as I could use a finer quality wire.

I started selling the glass jewelry about 8 years ago. I fell in love with the dichroic glass the first time I saw it although it took me a long time to move into working with glass My process is essentially making piles of various art glass pieces and letting the kiln-heat fuse them into a lump. Each pair of earrings is fired side-by-side so that the heat will influence the melting of them both in the same way. The goal temperature, which is about 1500°F, is reached as fast as possible.

The exact temperature is decided by visual examination. The kiln lid is propped open for long enough to bring the temperature immediately well away from that point to avoid further melting. It is the cooling process that is more complicated, called annealing. The heat must be held at about 900°F for a period of time that is based on the thickness of the work, then cooled slowly down to about 650°F after which the kiln can be left to cool on its own.

I like the variety of tasks that doing both the pottery and the jewelry allows. Just as moving from one design motif to another keeps the pottery feeling fresh, moving between different disciplines gives the day to day studio life extra interest. And I do so appreciate spending time working with such beautiful glass.

My studio and workshop are the ground floor of my ever-unfinished hand-made home in southeast Vermont. If you are coming this way, and don't mind the adventure of finding us in the back of beyond, I welcome visitors to the studio if arrangements are made in advance. [802-869-2003] Pots are always on display and jewelry displays can be brought out for purchases.

Female, Born on January 1

Favorite Materials

clay and glass