Deb Babcock

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Title: Daylily Cut-out Vase

Year of Creation: 2006

Glaze: Glossy translucent

Clay Body: White stoneware

Dimensions: Height 12 inches, Width 8 inches

Artist's Statement: Working in clay offers me so many dimensions as an artist. I love every aspect of creating something from a lump of clay; spinning my pottery wheel and bringing up a cylinder or bowl shape and then altering it; carving into soft clay to create texture; adding onto a form to provide places for glaze to break or the eye to roam or the hands to feel. Rolling out a slab of clay and forming it into a usable piece of pottery is fun to do as well, especially when there is a challenge involved such as creating an item for a single purpose: a butter dish, a honey pot, an apple baker.

I enjoy the glazing aspects of pottery, too, including the use of slips, stains and underglazes to add colors, designs, patterns and layering glazes not knowing how they might run and break in the hot kiln. Handles, feet, lids, spouts, knobs, and other aspects of creating a usable vessel also offer limitless possibilities for me.

My goal is to put the 'fun' into functional pottery while achieving a sense of grace and refinement in the pieces. Sometimes this works, sometimes not - but it is always interesting to strive for that balance.