Stoneware is a kind of pottery — or clay, or ceramics, the words are roughly interchangeable — that is durable, rugged, earthy. It is distinguished by its ability to withstand a very high temperature in a fuel-burning kiln. The intense heat (2350 Fahrenheit) and the lengthy ‘reduction’ process during the firing transform the finished ware – it is darkened and given depth. The process, like fermentation or live music, is not quite predictable or controllable, and never quite renders the same result twice.

While many studios work with earthenware (low-temperature terracotta) or porcelain (white, fine-grained) stoneware remains the focus of our gallery, and of our classes. There is no good reason for this except it’s what I love, personally, and the overall Green River project is an outgrowth of my personal journey in clay. Maybe someday we will expand the project — for now, though, we are keeping it simple.

A lot of the ceramics that inspire me most are old, and seem to form, as stoneware so easily does, a connection to the distant past. Many great pots were made by potters long ago who worked rapidly, simply, prolifically, meeting the needs of daily living.

I'm fascinated by this paradox, the age and durability of clay, it is simply granitic rock that has decomposed over millions of years, together with its faithfulness to the fleeting, passing, present.

In my personal work, which remains ongoing alongside classes, & administrating the gallery & residency, time has always been important element. My goal is to evoke the feeling of time, the sense of passage from one time to another.

Also I get a lot of inspiration from the vast empty Northern New Mexico landscape – the restrained warm color, the bigness of form, the presence of the distant past.

Increasingly, reduction firing of iron-rich clays, and of locally-sourced clays, which we also work with here at the studio, is rare. Or, it is rare to find stoneware in art galleries, and to be able to work with it as a student. We are proud of our long experience with this ethereal and earthy material, and glad we can offer its use in our classes.