Working from my studio amidst a coastal redwood forest, I make sculptural ceramic vessels focusing on themes of ecology and spiritual inquiry. My practice centers intentional processes and a deep connection to place; the aesthetics of the work are determined by using locally sourced materials such as wild clay, ocean salt and wood for firing kilns.
Through an accumulation of gestures, the works take on rhythmic patterns reminiscent of ancient handprints on cave walls: ephemeral life touching geologic time. Fingermarks in clay are intentionally accentuated by repeating each motion until familiar images emerge: a pelvic bone, a bird’s beak, a spiral shell. In this way, the marks of my hands begin to echo the beings that surround me. The resulting patterns appear organically, reflecting inherent interconnection and a universal language of form.
Informed by a background in archaeology, I build conceptual worlds around ceramic objects as a form of meaning-making. Imagined ritual functions suggest a speculative culture that venerates animals, plants and elemental forces. These rituals seek to capture mysterious and sensorial ephemera, such as the sound of water dripping into a cavernous vessel or recording the passage of time with sand through a ceramic funnel.
Grace Potter (b. 1996, Knoxville, TN) is an artist and educator based in Mendocino, CA. Potter received her BFA in Ceramics with minors in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder (2018). She has exhibited in galleries and museums across the country, including the University of Colorado Boulder Art Museum, Boulder, CO; Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC; and Mainsite Gallery, Norman, OK. Potter has been awarded several residencies both nationally and internationally, such as Township 10, Asheville, NC; Ia’Rex L’Atelier, St. Raphael, France; and the Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA. In addition to an active studio practice, she currently works as an Instructor of Record and Ceramic Technician for Mendocino Community College Coast Campus.