About the Artist

I am a potter whose printmaking background influences the surfaces of my nature and motherhood inspired functional vessels. In one process reminiscent of woodblock printmaking, I brush contrasting slip onto an unfired pot and use printmaking tools to carve an image. I love working in clay because it brings my art off the wall and into people’s hands and lives. Many objects we use in our daily lives are mass produced and hold little meaning. Somehow art and our everyday lives have become disconnected from one another. I believe that bringing art back into our daily experiences can reconnect us to the beauty in nature and ourselves.

My life by Lake Anna in rural Bumpass, Virginia provides subject matter for my pottery. I have two young children and sometimes a pot becomes a three dimensional sketchbook on which I record my experiences of motherhood. I feel an intense connection to the remaining wilderness we all share because so much has disappeared. Gardening introduces a human influence on wilderness, but helps us to gain a greater appreciation and respect for nature. I often carry a pot out to the garden and draw and carve on it right there. When I make art I go from looking at something to truly seeing it for the first time. There is beauty around us every day if we take the time to notice it. I hope that is what my pottery reminds people to do.

site, content, images & pottery © 2004 - 2006 Kathy H. Woodard