#21
Mary Jane Elgin
205 Myers St
A love of the Natural World and the experience of creating art to reflect it and resonate with it, have guided me throughout my life as an artist.Clay is my vehicle for redefining the empty space in front of me, for materializing a thought and bringing substance to a vision. The relationship of form, the tension and interaction between the exterior and interior spaces of a piece intrigues me. I cut through my pieces allowing the spaces to bleed into each other, revealing a fresh, complex new balance. Initially I had guidance in ceramics from two wonderful teachers, Ann Sears and Jim Heuston, but through the past twenty years of my exploration into ceramics, I have been largely self taught. These days I learn and take inspiration from my students, particularly from those who have become accomplished ceramicists, who constantly present me with new challenges while pursuing their own artistic paths and help me discover new was of making and looking. I start each piece by creating its basic form, through hand building or throwing. After it has dried to a soft leather-hard, I draw my design directly onto the clay. I then carve away the negative spaces and start the refining of the design, paying attention to the inside as well as the outside of each piece. Then the piece is allowed to dry fully and bisque. Glaze is applied carefully with a combination of brush work and pouring. Finally the piece goes into a glaze firing in my electric kin or in our group wood fire kiln.
