I make sculptural ceramic vessels focusing on themes of ecology and spiritual inquiry. My practice centers intentional processes and a deep connection to place. I favor locally sourced materials, such as wild clay, ocean salt, and wood for firing kilns, which provide both an aesthetic and conceptual ground for the work. The vessels are made as an embodied practice within parameters defined by my particular hand-building method of coiling and pinching. As I intentionally accentuate the marks of my fingers, the clay takes on rhythmic patterns reminiscent of ancient handprints on cave walls– ephemeral traces of life meeting geologic time. Familiar images emerge within the patterns, a pelvic bone, a bird’s beak, a spiral shell, reflecting inherent interconnection and a universal language of form. I often engage the works in ritual use and performance, seeking 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. Inspired by my reverence for the more-than-human world, I invite viewers to be curious and open to sacred encounters with the unknown.
Grace Potter 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 both nationally and internationally, including the Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA; Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; OCD Gallery, London, UK; and University of Colorado Boulder Art Museum, Boulder, CO. Potter has been awarded several residencies, including 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 College Coast Campus.