Nurtured by Nature
An Exhibition at The Village Potters Clay Center opened through June 2024
When you have six wildly talented, skilled, and creative artists working together, it can be a challenge to pick a singular theme for a show. But it didn’t take long before we realized each of us had a connection to nature, and it expressed itself in different ways in our lives and in our work. For this exhibit, each of the six resident potters has created work just for this show, and has explored new ways to illustrate the impact or connection of Nature in their work.
Sarah Wells Rolland grew up in Florida near the water and life that grew in and around it. For this exhibit, she has created singular pieces using broad strokes through slip to emulate Water Grass, and her deliciously beautiful glazes invite you to touch. You can almost feel a soft Florida breeze!
Judi Harwood has her work already rooted deeply in nature, using corn husks, bamboo leaves, and other organic materials in her sagger fired vessels. On a recent trip to the beach, she noticed an amazing pattern in the sand from the ebb and flow of the tide dragging shells across the sand. She knew instantly that she needed to carve a similar design in her pieces for Raku and other alternate firing processes, and you will find those pieces in this exhibit.
Caroline Renee Woolard has always had a deep love for nature, in particular the forest and the element of water and the rhythm of waves. You will find nature celebrated with the movement of her slip application, and in her carvings and sculptural mushrooms on her vessels. Her work invites a child-like sense of wonder and joy.
Katie Meili Messersmith is a self-proclaimed math nerd, and she loves the beauty of sequencing and patterning that she achieves in her slip dot applications on her pots. She also sees this beauty of math sequencing in nature, like in the petals of flowers, and has explored this in her work in a stunning limited edition series of Lotus bowls.
Julia Mann’s work has always been inspired by her love of nature and love of season, as well as her love of women and love of Goddess. Venus of Willendorf remains a guiding influence on her work more than twenty years after carving her first form. Julia has created new Venus pieces as well as pieces inscribed with other symbols of nature that inspire her, from spider webs to trees and mountains.
Lori Theriault grew up on the edge of the woods in central Vermont, and spent many afternoons hiking in the trees, touching each bark to feel what she saw. She also spent many nights star gazing with her father, waiting for an Apollo rocket to fly overhead. Lori represents her love of trees and flowers in functional work with her wax resist designs, and she is exploring more sculptural work in her “Vincent Series” that celebrates her love of a star-filled sky and her love and admiration for Van Gogh’s impasto technique in ‘Starry Night’.
Nurtured by Nature will be on exhibit through the end of June at The Village Potters Clay Center. We are open daily, 10am-5pm.
The Village Potters Clay Center • 191 Lyman Street, #180 • Asheville, NC