Becky Lloyd, Clyde, NC

My work uses a centuries old technique called sgraffito to create very intricate patterns and designs. Each piece of hand thrown porcelain is coated with a black terra sigillata slip. I then use a very sharp knife to cut into the slip to expose the white porcelain underneath. This technique allows me to indulge in my passion for design and challenge my skills at the same time.

Over the last several years my work has become more personal. A refuge. An expression of beauty, love and grief all at the same time. I have always had a keen interest in ancient civilizations and the incredible art they produced. Those ancient worlds hold endless inspiration for me and always will. The natural world continues to be a balm for my soul and a source of never ending wonder and awe. But I am now looking inside myself. Searching. Searching for what I have lost. In late April of 2014, Steve my husband, partner in clay and life passed away unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition. This man that I spent over 26 years of my life with was everything to me. He was always my biggest fan but I now know he was also my biggest inspiration. A true artist. An amazing potter. Never have I worked in the studio without him by my side. The pots we made together were an expression of the love we had for each other and our work. I cannot help but reflect on what was. It has shaped my life to what it is. Moving forward is inevitable, but in looking back and remembering I am carrying along memories and ideas of all that we had together. Now I must look inside and find the courage and grace to continue what Steve and I started together so long ago. Steve will always be in every piece I make and every piece I decorate. How could it be any other way?

becky@lloydpottery.com
www.lloydpottery.com
Visit Becky's webshop
Instagram: @beckylloydyogamama

Romulus Craft
Ikuzi Teraki & Jeanne Bisson,
Washington, VT

1979, Oakland, California, believing in possibilities, we rented raw concrete footage in a defunct paint factory on the bad side of town and transformed the space into a studio and a home, developing a way of life. Initially the work produced was sculptural vases, bowls, cups and plates in variations and combinations of black and white. The emphasis of the studio was on simplicity of form with minimal surface treatment...the city showed in our work. The hard edge, clean cut designs were crafted with patient attention to detail and finish, always trying to make the best that we can.

rom@romuluscraft.com
www.romuluscraft.com

Ellen Shankin, Floyd, VA

Every day I work at the wheel. Over and over again I focus my attention on the unruly clay and bring my mind and body together in an intention to center it and create forms filled with breath and energy. For more than 40 years I have found myself drawn to this effort, trying to make pots that possess strength and clarity. Throughout that time I have been able to wander along a path that regularly courses between inspiration and familiarity, passion and comfort.

Day in and day out, I make forms that please me, that honor the obsessions that have always driven my inquiries:
Line: how it moves around a piece, out of the rim and back into the body. Balance: how pots feel in the hand when lifted or poured. Tension: how clay moves in ways that speak of a vitality pushing at the seams. Architecture, the organic structure of nature around me, particular feelings about color and light, and my sense of the relationship between form and use, play heavily in the instincts and decisions that go into making these pieces.

I am keenly aware that along with these pots I am creating the quality of my time. I am crafting a daily existence filled with meaning and reward. Along with pitchers and covered jars, I am constructing the very manner in which time passes. Hours go by immersed in threads of interest. I wander, I struggle, I sink into a landscape dominated by shape, volume, scale and texture and I watch the interaction of those elements unfold over and over again in an evolution of my work.

These feelings, which underpin my studio life, value the journey as well as the destination. This seems to be almost an anachronism today. But there it is. A truth I have lived and loved.

warshank@swva.net
www.ellenshankin.com
Visit Ellen's webshop
Instagram: @ellenshankin