Artist Statement
Wendy Johnston
Over the past 26 years I have been working as a studio potter in New Brunswick. Over the years, my work has evolved from creating functional tableware with minimal decoration to making pottery that is more a celebration of colour, the natural landscape and in historical decorative motifs inspired by European decoration and architecture.
In the past ten years, I had the opportunity to visit Italy and France. There, I was inspired by the rich decoration found in pottery, art and architecture. When I returned to Canada, I noticed th there was very little architectural decoration of any kind in my environment. In search of patterns, and motifs that could represent my culture, I looked to unusual sources of decoration as would be found in scrap yards, big box stores, old furniture and fabric, letters, text, and advertising .
In 2014, I received a NB Creation Grant award to develop a body of ceramic work and drawings based on the theme of “Scavenging for Beauty. From this exhibition, I have continued to explore the delicate relationship between nature, historical decoration and the influences of our industrial and cultural environment. This winter, I am exploring the world of crows and ravens with the mobility of flight and keen intelligence to survive our winters. This winter, I envied their strength in flight, and how they represented freedom and as I recovered from a hip replacement surgery.
My Process
This is the first step to making a pot on the wheel. You must throw your clay down on to the wheel, and pat it into a centered mound. The more centered it is, the better.
Once you have your clay mound in the middle, you can center the clay with water, and a process called coning. By forcing the clay up vertically, the clay becomes perfectly centered, and you are ready to pull the pot up.
With firm pressure from your hands, you can make walls and the form of your pot in 4 or 5 pulls. Both hands are involved. One on the inside pushing out and one on the outside pushing in.
The final pulls help to shape the form into what you would like. Here you control the shape with subtle pressure from your fingers pressing out and from your hand supporting the piece in its final form.