About Gay Smith

• LOCATED: Bakersville, NC
• MATERIALS: Porcelain clay
• SURFACE: Glazes & Slips
• PROCESS: Wheel thrown and altered. Gas fired to Cone 10 in soda kiln

I'm looking to make extraordinary pots for ordinary use, enjoyed everyday. My vessels celebrate liveliness, the soft responsive feel and motion of porcelain clay on the wheel. Forms and surfaces are altered while freshly thrown. Most of the work is raw glazed/single fired. Strong form/profile, tactile surfaces, and lively color are major concerns. In the kiln, flames filled with sodium leave luscious marks on anticipated edges.

Working with porcelain can be challenging, especially raw glazing, but the responsiveness to touch, both fresh and fired, and to color in soda are deeply engaging. I love throwing, so ways of working with fresh clay naturally evolves and influences the character of my pots. Maximizing time spent in favored parts of the making process can lead to developing particularity, innovation, and expertise that might be considered mastery or your “voice”. Sometimes, I imagine my pots as a blend between my grandmother’s elegant holiday settings and an animated cartoon where cups and plates jump up to swirl in dance. I'm looking for my pots to be good companions. Lately, with candelabra, menorahs, candlesticks, I’ve become entranced with creating vehicles to spread light in our world.

Simple pottery, like cups, are made to hold and serve nourishment. Do consciously made pots carry some ineffable ability to transform and heal? What may be embedded in the stone of fired clay by the alchemical bond between material, process, and person. What is conveyed through use or enjoyment? I’m intending a reality where compassion arises in the heart when hand embraces handle.