Prairiefires

My name is Dave Peterson and my shop name of Prairiefires comes from the Raku, pit fired and sculptural pottery that is a large part of the artwork I do as well as being located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the upper Great Plains region.
This Etsy shop displays ceramics and glass. I have another Etsy shop under my name DavePeterson with realist paintings, abstracts and photography. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DavePeterson#
With the image of each piece I include a full overview of the work and how it was made. Everything I do myself including finding and digging my clay. The ceramic works are all made from a local clay deposit that lies in a ravine near my home. It is very is similar in type and location to clays used by northern Plains Indian tribes. Possibly at one time this deposit was used since it is not far from the remains of old camps. This clay is an exceptional Raku body with very little processing needed from the raw form. I am able to use it with Raku, pit firing, naked clay, and horsehair decorated works.
Within my ceramic work I try to retain a look and feel that everything is clearly made by hand and not from molds or factory duplicates. I leave throwing lines and finger marks. Sometimes edges are left rough for the contrast in texture. I look for the "what happens happens" and try of take advantage of the unknown aspects offered by the way I work or the process works. In my "fine art" works, which includes paintings, abstractionisms and photography, I strive for a similar look and feel that is spontaneous and often the result of happenstance. In a sense I do things the way I do so that I can retain a primitive or primal foundation that lets the work take it's own path as much as possible.