Curatorial Statement
To view and purchase work from our September Featured Artist, our gallery will be open by appointment starting Friday, September 4, 2020 from 11am-4pm MT, and Mondays through Saturdays, 10am-4pm September 5 – 26, 2020.
Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, September 7, 2020 by 10am MT
Deb was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Alaska in 2002. She worked for studio potters in the Anchorage area, which gave her a strong foundation to spring from. Deb focused on glazes for a year of independent study at San Diego State University; after which she completed a Masters of Fine Arts at Penn State in 2005. She went on to teach at institutions such as: Ohio University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Washington, and University of Georgia’s study abroad program in Cortona, Italy. Deb has worked nationally and internationally at places such as the Archie Bray Foundation (MT), Mudflat Studios (MA), The Clay Studio (PA), Pottery Northwest (WA), Watershed (ME), Sanbao in Jingdezhen, China, and the Residency for Ceramics-Berlin, Germany. Since 2002, Deb has taught over eighty workshops and exhibited work locally and abroad. She moved back to Seattle in 2009 and bought a house/studio in 2013. Since then Deb has created a beautiful, communal pottery studio where she instructs community clay classes and workshops. Deb, studio assistants, and people participating in classes all work in clay there. Together, they keep the wheels turning!
Momentum, Curiosity, Community
In order to make pottery I must approach the clay with openness and practiced skill, with a clear idea and playful intuition. My studio practice is a constant cycle referring to itself in the way I draw from my own processes and from my approach to problem solving. I also look farther afield, drinking in the many details of the world around me. I am a sponge for nuances of color placement in birds and how shadows break up forms and cause me to notice them anew. I am always seeking and asking myself, “How does this cup feel when held? Where will this pitcher live? What am I communicating with this line or volume?” As I spend hours in my studio working away, my mind blends and refracts the interests I research and the circling, recurring questions. I love the stillness and intensity of my studio practice in which I am free to listen, to move clay, to invent… My studio practice feeds me. I am fulfilled building my community through teaching workshops, trading eggs with neighbors, and spending time with friends and family. I am busy like a bee tending to the details of life, keeping up with my many hobbies, keeping my studio practice vibrate, promoting my career, mentoring in the studio, gardening and occasionally tinking away on my banjo. This constant motion feeds my energy and excitement for life, which I strive to capture in the forms and surfaces of my pottery. -Deb Schwartzkopf