Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2023
Paul Wisotzky is a studio potter and educator from Truro, Massachusetts. He makes functional pottery from porcelain and stoneware and fires his work in soda and reduction atmospheres at his studio Blueberry Lane Pottery. Paul teaches at the Harvard University Ceramics Program and Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. He is a founder and co-producer of SodaPosium a national educational gathering and celebration of soda firing. As an Open Studio Resident at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Paul developed a process of digitally designing and fabricating sponge stamps using graphic design software and a laser cutter. This process was featured in Ceramics Monthly Magazine and in a video available soon through the Ceramic Arts Network and CLAYflicks. Paul uses the stamps to decorate his pottery as well as teaching others how to use them in his workshops and classes. He has also been a Winter Resident at Penland School of Craft.
My work is a heart-centered collaboration of mind, materials and methods. I layer glazes and slips on the clay surface often in patterns that are systematic or random that bring depth and invite curiosity. I fire in reduction and soda kilns as it is an active partnership with flame and atmosphere that gives the kiln the final say in how my pots will ultimately appear. I am fascinated with the often contradictory dualities of life – joy and sadness, good and bad, hot and cold – and my pots and process share a similar duality. The focus and precision of making and decorating coupled with the letting go of control to the fiery wishes and magic of the atmospheric kiln.
Educating is a central part of my artists life. One of my primary goals as an educator is to bring people to what I call creative trailheads. My hope is that through my instruction and coaching, individuals will discover the beginnings of their own journeys with clay and making. They will find themselves with many new and exciting trails to wander down at their own pace with more skills and confidence garnered through their interactions with me.