My love of pottery as a craft stems from its innate historical, natural, therapeutic, communal, and artist qualities. As such, my practice is rooted in the meditative, sensorial process of bringing clay to ceramic, and I consider the ceramics studio to be a healing, non-judgmental space for the inner child to wander. My process begins with trusting and following my intuition, and using minimal tools to rely on my hands as they connect with the material directly.

In our unfortunate world of mass consumption and convenience, I am passionate about contributing to a world where everyday moments and objects are carefully curated and utilized with intent, humanity, and the history and labor of craft in mind. Because of this, much of my work is wood-fired, which is an extremely labor-intensive process requiring a group effort, and takes a minimum of 36 hours to reach full temperature (not to mention the days and weeks leading up to it which involves cleaning/preparing kiln shelves, acquiring wood, and loading pots carefully into the kiln). Wood-firing also leaves an extremely unique, irreplicable surface onto pots due to melted ash and other carbon materials which accumulate in the atmosphere of the kiln as the fire ramps up.

Visually, I am inspired by English slipware traditions, messy glaze applications, glaze/slip breaking over texture, and loose forms which leave remnants of human touch. I tend to use darker red clays layered with slip, sometimes wax, and a light amount of glaze. I find the rich, toasty variations brought out by these layers to be sacred evidence of myself as a maker. I enjoy dancing between technical skill and artistic expression within my work, and at the end of it all, I only hope for my pots to feel like a gentle, kind friend in the home.

Understanding clay as a material and the camaraderie built within a community studio are essential threads of my life, and to me what makes ceramics so special. My work continues to be deeply influenced by artists around me.

If you see something you’re interested in purchasing, want to set up a private lesson with me, or would like to connect in another way, please feel free to contact me.

https://www.instagram.com/beckthepotter/

beckarnett11@gmail.com