Artist Statement:
“My contemporary one of a kind terra-cotta pottery is decorated with bright non-lead under glaze colors and carved to give it a raised design effect. I found that working with vivid colors exciting and challenging. The shape of the pot, the placement and combination of those colors plus the designs all have to work together. When your vision comes through your work, then you have the perfect pot. The challenge is trying to get that vision to come through.
To add to the challenge, I started sculpting animals such as jackrabbits, frogs, bears, and geckos on the lids of pots, as handles or decorations. I became known as the “Rabbit Pot Lady!” My animals have a realistic look to them. Each one is individually hand sculpted; this gives them their own personality. I seal the pots in another firing with a clear glaze to make them more functional so they will hold food and liquid. Pottery is still exciting and challenging. You never master it and it’s a never ending learning process. I can’t see myself ever being tired of it.”
Biography
Sharon is an award winning potter with over twenty-five years experience. Her love for clay started at Guilford Hand Craft Center learning functional ware. It was a challenge to work in different clays and mastering firing techniques. She also took classes at Creative Arts as well as Wesleyan Potters. Her experience expanded as potter in residence at Guilford, teaching classes, also working with the gift shop and expo committees at what is now Guilford Art Center.
Winning awards in ceramic design and having been written up in various
editorials has been exciting. Sharon’s pottery has become highly
collectible. “It’s exciting when my customers contact me for
my new work and where they can see it. The functional training still dictates
the work and most of the pieces can be used in some form such as cover
jars for storage, bowls, platters, etc. Recently flowers and vines with
dragonflies, bees and other forms from nature appear on the pots.”
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