MayaAdamsCeramics

My name is Maya, and I am the owner and maker at Maya Adams Ceramics.

My Mostly Ceramic-related History:
My interest in ceramics began when I was living as a child in Alfred, NY, a tiny community with one of the biggest, most well known ceramic art and science colleges in the United States. I would wander through the unending meandering series of undergraduate and graduate student work spaces. I witnessed what being a ceramic artist could actually mean amidst our society's sea of mass-produced and mostly mundane and uninspired offerings. It is mesmerizing to watch a potter create at the wheel. I will never tire of watching this magical process. Living in Alfred changed my life and my way of looking at ceramics and art in general.

Despite the amazingness of Alfred, NY's ceramic arts college, when it was time for me to go to college I just had to escape the tiny town in which I had been transplanted. I never felt quite at home there and ended up going back to my beloved Portland, OR where I had spent the first part of my life. In 1995 I received my BA with an emphasis on ceramics from Lewis and Clark College. Despite my love for pottery, in the end I chose to focus on sculptural ceramics.

After a few years spent away from Alfred, NY, I decided to return. In 2000 I received my BFA in ceramic sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Afterwards, I had a pottery business for a few years and then decided to go to graduate school. In 2007 I received my MFA in ceramic sculpture from Clemson University in Clemson, SC. I think I am now done with school!

Since then I have spent time creating mixed media art as a part of a contemporary art group, had a super awesome kid with my super awesome husband, and did general stuff that comes with having a kid. I have also been working on creating a pottery business as I raise my child.

What I Am Inspired By:
In terms of the surface design of my pots my interests range from creating elegant wheel made marks and patterns to drawings that tend to mingle beauty with a bit of the weird. I really like animals and their furriness and/or their amazing patterns. I like looking really closely at things, even microscopically, and finding the details of those views. I enjoy the beauty and engineering of many everyday items and objects from the past. I look for beauty in what we tend to think of as mundane.

I hope you will enjoy my work!