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Volume 2  Ginny Marsh opening the kiln Ginny Marsh I work at my home studio in Richardson, Texas. I recently “retired” after serving for a decade as Resident Artist at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas where I also taught courses on the history of ceramics. Most of all I reveled in the energy and curiosity of the students there. I earned my bachelor’s degree at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and my MFA at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. I then moved to the hills of southern Indiana where I lived on a small organic farm for thirty years, planted 800 trees, had a studio, raised a family, worked as the Editorial Advisor on Ceramics for Chilton Books, and taught ceramics at the University of Louisville, Kentucky before returning home to north Texas. Assigned as an undergraduate advisee to Professor Richard Peeler, I signed up for Ceramics class and was hooked the first week. Even if commercial clay bodies had been available in those days, Peeler would have made us mix our own. He took us to the local clay mine and had me mixing all my own glazes and doing firings from the beginning. By the second year, he conscripted me into helping with kiln construction. My graduate school glaze chemistry professor, Margaret Fetzer, and longtime mentor, Karl Martz, gave me skills and nurtured further curiosity in developing my own glazes, which I still do. This includes the local ash glazes which I love, and which ground my work where I live. Each of the cups in this show has ash glaze. I like fire. I like kilns with burners or that use wood as fuel, and in winter heated the house and cooked on a wood stove for 30 years. I fire most of my work at home in the gas kiln in my back yard but participate in other kinds of firings with friends. Community really can’t be separated from making or using pots. A gallery of some of my work is on my website. I exhibit in a variety of exhibitions, participate in a local studio tour every fall and sell work at benefit sales at the Craft Guild of Dallas, which brings together artists using many materials. Reggie Pointer I was born in Washington DC and raised in Massachusetts. Currently, I am an Associate Professor of Ceramics at Howard University. In addition to doing pottery, I teach printmaking and 3D design. When not teaching I am designing and playing games. Much of the time there is an educational component to the game I develop. I had taken pottery classes as an undergraduate. But pottery became serious for me when I discovered I could make money with it. And the added bonus for me was that I could make functional objects that met my needs as a cook. I mostly work with stoneware. I do all the processes available to me with no real preference toward any one of them Hand building, wheel work, slip casting are all points for departure. To get fast results I often do raku if food or drink is not an issue. I make about 75% of my glazes when working with stoneware.  Divided we stand united we fall by Reggie Pointer My favorite piece in this show is the piece titled "Divided we stand united we fall". It attempts to address the two sides we face regarding the history of this country. I make a few works every year that address current social concerns. I was struck by the comment that there were a few bad/good people on both sides. Put water in either vessel and, strangely, it tastes the same? I enjoy making cups. I enjoy trading/ selling cups. The opportunity to share my vessels with others is a pleasure. I collect vessels from all of my pottery friends and have a cabinet overflowing with cups. I'm on FB and currently working on my website. I have an Instagram account, but exhibit nationally when I can so keep your ears and eyes open.  Lara Popowitch Lara Popowitch I am from Aurora, Illinois. I received a degree in Fine Art & Business. My early career was in commercial art doing graphic design and India ink illustrations for government and non-profit organizations. The imagery on my ceramic work references the scientific study of societal beauty standards. I was doing a lot of commercial illustrative work and was looking for a different creative outlet for my own ideas. A local community college was the answer. I took some ceramic classes and was pulled in. Clay is outstanding because there are enough facets to stay challenged and engaged with it for many lifetimes. I have a home-studio, so I wish to be careful about my mess I make. I use commercial products, so I don't need to be concerned about the dust associated with handling raw materials. The clay I use is English porcelain. I throw and trim the form on the pottery wheel. The surface design is drawn and painted on with under-glazes. It is covered in a coat of clear, gloss glaze. Using an electric kiln, the piece is fired to cone six. My favorite piece would be the spirits cup named Face Sequence. Everything about it made me smile when I unloaded it from the kiln. The imagery fits well and looks clear and precise. I felt compelled to continue going down that rabbit-hole of thought.  Face Sequence by Lara Popowitch The honest answer is location [in applying to this show]. One of the last family road trips I went on with my parents and brother was to Colorado. The four of us were spellbound by the state's beauty. Having the opportunity to share my work with you and to be in that gorgeous locale was my motivation. If I can't personally be there to enjoy it, at least my art can stand in my place. I have both Etsy and Instagram accounts with the name ClayVein. You can see more about me and my work at either of these locations. Derek Redding I am the owner of Flux Studio & Gallery in Denver, CO. For 16 years I worked as a driller for a geotechnical contractor. In December of 2016 I resigned my position and opened the studio. There I focus on small batch functional wares, for both wholesale, and retail. I also teach classes 5 nights a week, to about 24 individuals a month, from beginner to advanced students. I work in both stoneware, and porcelain, and focus primarily on wheel thrown vessels. Everything is fired to cone 10 in a reduction atmosphere. I was first introduced to ceramics as a high school student where, we had an amazing facility. We had an excellent and knowledgeable instructor who, was well versed in several artistic disciplines. We also had access to high fire glazes, several kilns, both gas and electric, as well as raku firings, and many others. We also learned how to formulate and mix our own glazes from raw materials. It was a great experience, and because of it, I was catapulted forward into the clay life. All of my glazes are mixed in house from raw materials. I run about 20 different glazes from traditional shinos, pale celadons, colorful copper reds, and too many others to list. I prefer the glaze results, and the translucency of working with porcelain. However, a rich and rustic stoneware mug can be just as warm and inviting. I fire in a 20cuft gas reduction kiln to cone 10, or 2380 deg F. I have been influenced lately by an old world, and traditional form. I share the building with a world renowned architectural antique dealer and have found myself drawn towards many of their clay and glass relics of the past, that are found in their shop. I have been creating the Tankards for some time now. I purchased an 1820's English Tavern Tankard and have replicated the form. The transformation of the pewter tankard to ceramic gives new life to the archaic, and eye-catching shape.  Carved Porcelain Tankard by Derek Redding My favorite piece for this show is the Carved Porcelain Tankard Coffee Mug. I was pleased with the execution, and final product of the standard tankard I had been producing on the regular. I was making about 100 tankards a month and wanted to add a new twist to them. I really wanted to make the shape my own. So, I began to carve the body of the mug, and chiseled out the top of the handle. As well as create a more elegant, and ergonomic grip. The carving, it started as just random squiggly lines with no rhyme or reason to assist in catching and channeling the flow of molten glaze. After many failed attempts, and honestly some really ugly mugs, they evolved into whimsical, dynamic, and truly unique pieces. Where, I could not only channel, but direct the hot glass to accentuate certain elements of the form. I was inspired to apply for this show by a friend on SM. My work can be found online in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FluxStudioDenver In the Gallery of the studio: 377 S lipan St Denver, CO 80223 Our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FluxStudioDenver/ Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fluxstudiodenver/ Mark Rossier I am a homebody, a cook, and a family guy, which fits well with being a self-employed artist working from home. My studio and home, in the little town of Niwot, are very much my own creation with my own hands and my family’s patient support. I wanted to create it so my two daughters, Chloe and Susannah, would know what I do for work and to be around when they were, and I wanted to be able to support my wife, Ellen, in her demanding work. We love music, so instruments vie for space with pots and books and treasures collected from our travels. And a walk out back to the studio usually includes a stop at the garden and chicken coop. The four of us have made a very lovely, personalized home that takes care of us. In the middle of working towards an undergrad art major at Grinnell College in Iowa, about 1983, I took a semester off to build wooden boats on the coast of Maine and get off campus. What my boatbuilding clarified for me was that I love working with tools and in three dimensions. Back at school, I was contemplating building a boat in the middle of campus when my advisor wisely suggested that I instead take the ceramics class. Ok, it fit in my schedule. I was already drawn to traditional craft and its artistic expression, but clay had such broad possibilities and deep roots—I was smitten. Right after graduation I decided to find a potter to work for, just to see if anyone made a living anymore as a potter. That decision turned into a seven-year apprenticeship at two different potteries and subsequently setting up my own studio. My training is definitively production oriented, so I have always tended to work with those concerns in mind as far as clay, glazes, and the numbers of pieces I produce. I primarily use a locally formulated and mixed clay, as opposed to digging and processing my own. These days I am drawn to and experiment with many temperatures and processes, but I mostly work with a mid-range red stoneware that I electric fire to cone 7 (though mid-range porcelain, wood fired pieces and pit fired Ancestral Puebloan reproduction work all shows up in my studio). I like a quick feedback loop to see the results of what I’m doing, so I’ve slowly shifted from a 60 cu ft gas kiln to my small electric kiln. I am, frankly, a glaze mixing evangelist. Working with glaze chemistry, and teaching it too, are very important to my expression as a potter.  Mark Rossier I think my favorite is the Desert Sipping Cup. Perhaps it is because it is the most recently discovered glaze combination I’m exploring, but this form is one I keep returning to because of its elegance in your hand. The glazes were a surprise in how they work with each other, but their feel comes right from the desert landscape of southern Utah that we visit religiously every springtime. To me, there is a perfect combination of control and surprise in the fired surface. The colors of this piece are all possible because of a layer of slip behind the scenes. This is a great example of why I make my own glazes. And that coppery gold rim—you gotta love that! Mugs and cups have always been ever-present pieces for potters of all traditions. But they used to be the “loss leader” in the shop, the pieces that brought folks in the door and were sold too cheaply to that end. Now, cups and mugs are elevated to the complex collectible pieces they truly are, at least in the US, and because they can command such prices, they demand such care. I like that and think that is as it should be. I, like many potters, love to collect mugs and cups from other potters and know that we all use them as an important form for our self-expression—as well as to sip from. I consider Commonwheel to be a venerable Colorado clay gallery and I like to be included in exhibitions that show the best of our local potters. Go to my website (www.markrossierpottery.com)—there is always work for sale. Follow me on Instagram (@markmudman), because I will soon be advertising sales there and you’ll stay most current with what I’m doing. La Veta Gallery on Main in La Veta, CO carries my work as does Radius Gallery in Missoula, MT. But the best place to find my work is my studio showroom in Niwot that is truly open 24/7 with a wide selection of my work.  Lora Rust in the studio Lora Rust Since 2008 I have been a studio potter and pottery instructor in Atlanta, GA, selling my work at my studio, local and regional art sales, exhibits and galleries. Sharing my love of working in clay, I teach beginning and intermediate pottery classes at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta with concentration in the soda firing process and workshops nationwide demonstrating my unique texturing process of pushing the clay. My mother was a collector of pottery. We had loads of pottery all over our house and used it daily. When I had to take an art class in high school, I chose pottery. I use porcelain, a cone 6 porcelain by Laguna clay. I throw, alter and texture my pieces. My stylized technique of creating my designs and texture is a unique process of striking and moving clay with personally designed tools. Porcelain allows me to sponge the marks after I make them at soft leather hard, giving the designs a lush and flowing feel. I fire my work to cone 6-7 in my soda kiln in Blue Ridge, GA. Sodium vapors glaze the exterior of each vessel, interacting and uniquely highlighting the form and surface. I make my own glazes. This allows me to get the exact effect that I want for my pieces in the soda firing environment.  Dragon flower Tumbler by Lora Rust My favorite piece in this grouping is the Dragon Flower Tumbler. This pattern flows nicely on the taller tumbler form. The results from the firing were exceptional (soda fired, cone 7). The copper highlights from the exterior reacted in a spectrum of greens. Because of the variation in the surface of the porcelain, the copper migrates through the piece and can be seen on the inside. I was accepted in the show in 2018 and received overwhelming and enthusiastic support for my work at the co-op. Commonwheel honored me by placing an image of one of my mugs (the Bony Mug, also in the show) on the Call for Entry card. :~) My website LoraRust.com has expanded background and biographical information as well as an online shop, featuring my texturing tools. I also have a presence on Facebook - Lora Rust Ceramics and Instagram @lorarust. I am represented by Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL; Ember Gallery, Chattanooga, TN; The Bascom Gallery, Highlands, NC; Macon Arts Gallery, Macon, GA Lora Rust Ceramic Designs 404-805-0979 [email protected] www.lorarust.com  Tooth Cup by Sara Torgison Sara Torgison Sara Torgison is a potter and sculptor currently managing the fine art studio facilities at the University of Dayton, OH. Sara grew up in San Diego, CA surrounded by art, music, sea and sky. She holds a BFA from Humboldt State University in Ceramics and has worked at various community arts organizations in the Dayton area. I became interested in pottery in high school, but didn't really get into it until my second semester of college. HSU has an amazing ceramics department and it became my second home. I took every student assistant position I could get in the department, and slowly gained the knowledge base that prepared me to take on positions managing ceramics departments in the Dayton Ohio area (where I moved after I finished my BFA). I have been incredibly fortunate to work with local artists, firing their work and working alongside them in the studio. The strong sense of community among ceramicists has been a continuous source of inspiration in my life. I typically work with cone 10 porcelain or stoneware. I either throw and alter my vessel forms, or hand-build, adding hand mixed engobes and glazes in layers. I fire in either gas reduction or wood reduction atmospheres and find that, while I often prefer the results and community aspects of wood firing, gas firing is my personal comfort zone and a quicker, less taxing process. My favorite piece I submitted for this show is the reduction fired tooth cup, because it was the first one that came out using the engobe technique I developed and I was so excited by the results. I had seen calls for the exhibition come up in the past, but missed the deadline. I love making and collecting mugs and cups, so the theme appeals to me. I am honored I got to participate this year! My work can be found at saratorgison.com  Teacup and Saucer by Lauren Visokay Lauren Visokay
I am a ceramic artist and geologist from Charlottesville, VA. I enjoy making ceramic work that incorporates elements of geology, both through form and surface and by incorporating raw materials such as native clays. My life and work have been influenced by my time studying geology at The College of William and Mary, where I was lucky to take multiple travel courses to study geological aspects of places such as California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Oman. Recently I have been wood firing as an Artist in Residence at the Cub Creek Foundation in Appomattox, VA. Along with being a ceramic artist, I am a runner and an animal lover. I was lucky to go to a high school with a great ceramics program, where I took ceramics classes and developed a passion for clay. My interest intensified in my college ceramics courses, and as an Artist in Residence at the Cub Creek Foundation. I prefer to mix my own clays, and the clay body that I use depends on what I am going to make and what firing process I am planning to use. For wood firing, which I am doing now, I like to use stoneware bodies that incorporate the red Virginia clay deposit present on the Cub Creek Foundation property. I mix the native clay into my stoneware bodies and also thin it out into a slip to use as a decorative element. I love wood firing and soda firing, and I prefer to mix my own glazes to accent my surfaces and firing processes. My favorite piece in this exhibition is my Teacup and Saucer. I loved the process of designing a cup and saucer form that aligns with my current body of work, and I feel that the piece has quite a charming overall quality. I was inspired to apply to this show because I have recently developed a teacup and saucer form, and I enjoy making flasks and whiskey sets. I love the idea of designing pieces for specific beverages and this show is a perfect way to showcase that! Website: laurenvisokay.wixsite.com/lvisokayceramics Instagram: @Visokayisokay Local Gallery: Red Door 104 in Farmville, VA
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