Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (AIA) 2019
Posey Bacopoulos is a studio potter working in New York City. She has been making pots for more than twenty years. Posey has a BS degree in European History from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and has also studied at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of Georgia Studies Abroad at Cortona, Italy. She studied ceramics at several craft schools including Penland School of Craft and Anderson Ranch.
Her work has been shown in many national juried and invitational exhibitions, winning awards in the Fourth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National and
the International Orton Cone Box Show. It has recently been published in several books including The Ceramic Design Book, Best of Pottery 2, and The Art of Contemporary American Pottery. She has taught numerous workshops on Majolica.
Her pots combine thrown, altered and hand-built sections, which are made separately and then assembled. The pots are majolica on terracotta. Majolica is a glaze tradition that began in the Middle East with a tin-opacified glaze. The majolica glaze is smooth, white and opaque. Colorants are applied in a thin wash to the glazed surface to create the lively decoration.
In my work, it is my intention to create pots that enter people’s everyday lives in a direct and intimate way. My goal is to integrate form, function and surface in a manner that brings a sense of excitement to my work. I am continually exploring the relationship between surface decoration and form, while in the surface treatment of my work; I strive for lively expression of line, pattern and color. The floral motifs on my pots are patterns rather than actual representations that serve to divide the space in interesting ways. My hope is that the pots invite use and that my pleasure in making them is shared by those who use them.
The pots combine thrown, altered and hand-built sections. These sections are made separately and then assembled. I enjoy altering the thrown forms and working in this manner. The pots are majolica on terracotta. Majolica is a glaze tradition that began in the Middle East in the 9th century with a tin-opacified glaze. Majolica glaze is smooth, white and opaque. Colorants are applied in a thin wash to the glazed surface to create the lively decoration. The pots are fired to cone 04 in an electric kiln. After the firing the glaze gives a glossy surface that maintains the line quality and color of the decoration.