Title: Potter

Gender: Male

Age: 52

Sun Sign: Leo

Chinese Sign: Fire Rooster

Location: Montgomery, Alabama

I teach art at an HBCU (Historic Black College or University). I have my own pottery studio behind my house. I am trying to find my way in the Great Tradition of Pottery (Ken Beittel) which combines the world traditions of pottery. I find great inspiration from the pottery  and sculptural ceramic forms that come from the east-Japan, China, Korea. I also look at the Japanese/English Mengie tradtion of “folk pottery” -simple unadorned forms made for use made with a knowledge of trying to trying to reconnect the user with the outside world.

I try to make work that has “A certain love of roughness is involved, behind which lurks a
hidden beauty, to which we refer in our peculiar adjectives shibui,
wabi and sabi. .. It is this beauty with inner implications that is
referred to as shibui. It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer
by its creator .. a piece thay will lead the viewer to draw beauty out
of it for themselves. The world may abound with different aspects of
beauty. Each person, according to his disposition and environment,
will feel a special affinity to one or another aspect. But when their
taste grows more refined, they will necessarily arrive at the beauty
that is shibui.”

        - “The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty”,
                Soetsu Yanagi, Bernard Leach

I try and balance my life between teaching, potting, seeing, listening and experienceing life as much as possible.

Member Since: Thursday, May 11 2006

Last Visit: 225 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 2678 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)