Since my first exposure to the pottery wheel in at Minneapolis South High School in 1991, I have been transfixed by the possibility of making useful pottery from soft clay, transformed by fire to durable, functional (and sometimes beautiful) objects.

For more than a decade as a “country potter,” I focused on using stoneware clay and firing my pots in a wood-fired kiln, introducing salt at approximately 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit. The direct interaction with the flame and sodium vapor created surface variation that added interest to my applied glaze and exposed clay patterning.

In the early 2000s, I traded my studio apron for more formalwear required of a state lawmaker and now as a clean energy finance lawyer. I took a break from making pottery though I continued to collect and appreciate handmade pots. I never lost the itch to make pots again myself.

In 2019, now living in the heart of the city, I started experimenting with porcelain clay fired in an electric kiln, seeking some of the same “magic” I experienced in the wood kiln. I continue to be fascinated by what is possible, and happily frustrated by working within the limitations of a clean, oxidized firing atmosphere, where firings are not unlike running a large toaster oven, rather than the more direct stoking and flame interactions of a wood-fired kiln.

I hope you’ll find these newer pots interesting, too, and that they bring you some pleasure in your everyday life as well.

Jeremy