Presenter: Natalie Blake | Altered Ceramics

NATALIE BLAKE

Carving in Curved Clay, Vessels and Tiles

Natalie will demonstrate undulating tile making by draping slabs over hand-sculpted forms as well as demonstrating thrown forms. She will show slip application and sgraffito carving. Natalie will discuss her glazing techniques and firing temperatures. Natalie will also share her experience working as an independent artist and business person which includes travails and triumphs she has been through and where they have landed her now.

Additional Information

Natalie has been working in clay for 25 years. She started as a functional potter and then shifted to the vessel to explore the thrown form in porcelain. Natalie carves texture and sgraffito design into her forms. More recently, those vessels have been ‘unwrapped’ and shifted to tile surfaces. Rolled slabs lain over hand sculpted forms produce an undulating three dimensional surface over which to follow curves in the clay with a design in mind and a carving tool in hand.

Natalie received her BA at Kenyon College in Ohio and started making clay pieces while in high school at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. She received the Thomas J Watson fellowship to study ceramics in Asia for a post graduate year from 1992-93. Returning home, Natalie studied with several area potters and ceramic artists in southern Vermont, setting up her own business in 1994. She currently has a studio in Brattleboro, Vermont, where she has resided for the past 18 years.

Read more: http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council/altered-ceramics