Ayumi Horie

Swinging from link to link through some of my favorite ceramic sites a while back I came across the work of New York based ceramicist Ayumi Horie.



Joy.

Soft fluid forms, generous creamy slip, simple, whimsical line drawings, incidental marks and a finish reminiscent of Jane Sawyer's ceramics.



Ayumi Horie makes lovely pots.

She also produces very amusing postcards that feature her 'pots in action'.

I joined her mailing list and happily receive information on her highly active ceramic life and work.

Recently she made a video capturing her "dry throwing technique." Due to 'copyright issues' it is a little tricky to track down at the moment but it is definitely worth a look. Get ready to let go of all your purist thoughts on how a pot should be thrown! I think it is a case where rules are made to be broken when results look something like this...
Some words from Ayumi:

"My advice to people getting into ceramics is to take the time to make their best work, to raise the bar on quality, to discard seconds and to not sell anything before it has integrity. Cultivate your work above all else and find a way to keep working every single day, even if the studio situation is not ideal. Over the past year, I have consciously made less work in order to more carefully tend to the making of each pot."

"The burgeoning interest in a handmade aesthetic, relating to the quirkiness of individual, intuitive decision-making is a great opportunity for potters to bring their work into the consciousness of a new generation of buyers and collectors. The slow food movement's emphasis on quality of experience, as well as food, is a model that could serve potters very well."

"We ought to challenge people about why they will balk at a $50 cup, yet spend $50 on a meal or $200 on a factory-made sweater. As it should be, this puts more responsibility on the artist to put their best work out there and in turn, this will then create desire and a new market for handmade pots."

Taken from Pots In The Real World, Ceramics Monthly