Rebecca Morton

Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, USA

Title: Internal Gaze

Year of Creation: 2007

Glaze: Cone 6, gold luster, oxidation electric kiln

Clay Body: Porcelain

Dimensions: Height 20 inches, Width 9 inches

Artist's Statement: Nature finds voice in form. Nature blooms, cycles through the seasons. The power of nature's ability to regenerate is inconceivable. It is not always apparent why things are shaped the way they are, but nature is constantly creating similar forms over and over again. Within these similarities there is never an equivalent. Within diversity there is order: within my ceramics there is constancy.

To be truly centered as a person enables one to create beautiful moments with clay. It is about letting go, while, at the same time being totally present in the moment.

I use color, form, line, volume and space to create beauty. Total concentration on form, surface and the process of making is my goal through every step of my practice. I prefer to create classical forms in honor of clay traditions passed down from earlier times. Excitement comes from working at a larger scale. The physicality of the material awakens my body. Throughout the process of making I travel with the clay, similarly to planting a seed and watching it prosper over time. There's a moment when conception occurs and transpires into new life forms.

The organic imagery that I apply to the surface is playful. My hand ever so carefully pushes the clay to create new folds and creases. A bend here, a curve there, a push to make it complete; I know when it is right. The pot, as vessel, holds and presents and becomes the view.