SEEKING IDENTITY
The Potters of Miranda Thomas Pottery Studio
April 1st - April 27th
Beginning April 1st, Frog Hollow Craft Association and Gallery will exhibit “Seeking Identity,” featuring recent work by the potters of Miranda Thomas Pottery Studio. The show, which includes functional and decorative ceramics, captures the individual craft person’s aesthetic and practice within the larger team of a world famous production poetry studio, in Bridgewater, Vermont.
The pottery has always been set up on a long established “workshop” model, not as an “assembly line factory”. A place where a team of highly talented, skilled people and potters, are brought together to make lines of refined pottery to Miranda’s design, in shape, glaze, and decoration. It is a shared pursuit, to make in production, highly skilled beautiful pots for everyday use. It is cooperation at the most fundamental level. Everyone in the team of six is employed to bring their skills to the table. They learn to take part in all aspects of the making process- from throwing, decorating, making glazes, glazing, packing kilns, sorting finished pieces, etc. Everyone has a part in, and understanding of the whole process- not just a siloed part of it. It is this collaboration of skills that brings the studio pots to life. The result is a truly unique pot, each piece a true original, made by individuals for individuals.
During their own time, the potters are encouraged to use the studio to explore their own work and “identity”. They are welcome to sell independently, as they are artists. The show exhibits their individual characters through a variety of styles. The artist’s identities are reflected in their own new work.
MIRANDA THOMAS
Miranda Thomas was born in New York and raised in Italy, Australia, and England, where she completed her training with the master potters Michael Cardew and Alan Caiger-Smith. She moved to Vermont in 1983, where she and her husband, the Irish furniture maker Charles Shackleton, run their combined workshops as ShackletonThomas. Miranda and Charles and their team of craftspeople share a passion for handwork, which they believe gives each piece character, soul, and life. Miranda’s pottery, decorated with designs inspired by the magic of the natural world, is collected worldwide and has been given as official gifts by Presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden, the United Nations to dignitaries including UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and Popes John Paul II and Francis.
CHRISTI BECKER
Christi Becker is a studio potter from Kansas. She has worked as an artist since graduating from Bethany College with an Arts Administration degree in 2014. Currently, she is working for Miranda Thomas Pottery learning the many decoration techniques that Miranda has become known for. Christi is also designing and curating a body of work that represents her style and favorite ways of creating using clay. The artworks showcased in this exhibition represent the exploration of materials available in the studio during the first year and a half of working as a potter for Miranda.
JESSICA KING
Jessica King has been trained in-house at the Miranda Thomas Pottery over the past 20 years. Jessica is a true master in all she does. Highly skilled as a thrower, she also is the backbone of the decoration and execution of Miranda’s pottery designs. Her craftsmanship is superb, and she excels in brushwork, carving, and especially in Miranda Thomas Pottery’s lettered inscribed pieces. Now she is working for Miranda Thomas Pottery, from her home, whilst busily looking after her twins.
Eric Moore
Eric Moore makes pots that are not only functional but also beautiful. Eric wishes to share the happiness he gets from every step of making these pots. He shares parts of himself through his pottery as a way to connect to whoever uses these pieces. His use of wild clays from Pennsylvania and now Vermont is a way to bring the user on the journey he has taken to get these materials. The wild clay from Pennsylvania was dug at the spot Eric and his father would always go fishing. While his father would fish Eric would play in the mud.
Evan Williams
Evan Williams started working for Shackleton Thomas in 2002 while finishing his training as an apprentice potter at Simon Pearce. Evan is an incredible thrower and is known for his ability to throw pots both large and small with great skill. He also has a special interest in glaze chemistry, developing and refining Shackleton. Thomas glazes. Evan especially likes making bowls and teapots; teapots because of the skill and attention to detail needed to make them both attractive and functional, and bowls because their simple shape allows for incredible depth and subtlety of form. Evan studied Art at Syracuse University, and in his free time makes his own pots, which are then wood-fired in his Anagama kiln at his home studio in Bethel, Vermont.
