Artist Statement                                                                      

I enjoy the trance of throwing as well as the dance of hand building. The glazes are a reflection of my interest in layering of color, abstract design, and glaze combinations. Firing in a variety of atmospheres is key to getting these effects. Building a glaze repertoire is both stimulating and enhancing to the ware and sculpted work.

In returning once again to the theme of the goddess, I have recently developed through my work, a repertoire of human forms and pots. Pots and the figure have an affinity, as they echo and support each other in both utilitarian and aesthetic ways. If our creations in art are to have a value beyond the mundane, our figures and pots need to reflect the numinous, as well as the useful. In past works such as Water Muse, the Snake Goddess Teapot, and the Kore sculptures, I am hoping to reflect and explore some measure of dignity and reverence for the female form. The Summer Day Vase and Yunomis are an evolution of this theme.

The connection between pots and persons is evident as we look into the kinds of people we revere. Looking back to antiquity, we see that this imagery grew out of our own human need to reproduce our image and reflect nature from our everyday world. But the unconscious is always at work here as we create these images of our psyches out of clay.

Emily S. Coleman

September 2015