GuthrieMade

Hello and welcome to my shop. Thanks for stopping by.

I have a BFA in ceramics (from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) and have always been "making" something or another. I'm currently going back to school for conservation and environmental science. I work in multiple media, but my main focus is ceramics. I love woodfire and cone 10 reduction firing, but I do some oxidation firing, but I try to stay away from straight-up commercial glazes when at all possible.
I love the traditional elements in pottery and ceramics, but strive to "edge things out" a bit. Before I finally settled on my major in ceramics I was a sculpture major. After I took a ceramics class I was dismayed by the dismissive "ceramics is craft" attitude some sculptors had. My main focus was sculptural ceramics, but I have grown to appreciate functional ceramics unbelievably. I believe a well-crafted vessel can be as thought-provoking as any sculpture. In my functional ware, I like to focus on shape and depth of glaze. Woodfire lends itself to this immensely. The kilns I've fired in (primarily through school and my friends who built their own) have been anagama kilns. They are roughly 20 feet long and built into the side of a hill. Fired entirely with wood, this gives incredible dimension to glazes and raw clay surfaces - wood ash can melt, drip and turn into glass in unexpected ways and change the coloring of a glaze completely. Fly-ash can also give texture to a piece - a cooler spot in the kiln can allow the ash to not melt completely, giving a "crusty" look.
My interest in science has lent itself to my art greatly. I'm interested in botanical, anatomical and zoological themes - although with my own geeky "comic-book" line style of drawing.
Everything I make is, naturally, handmade. Any "pre-fab" elements (if any) will be noted.
Besides clay, I also tinker around with other things. Please check out my entire listing to see whatever has struck my fancy lately.
Thanks again for stopping by.
JMR