Wheel-thrown stoneware
by Michelle Fairholm

Working with clay is my happy place. Making pottery is meditative, energizing, challenging, relaxing, and honestly just plain fun because at the end of the day you're just playing with mud. My work is wheel thrown and decorated with a variety of slips and glazes. I cover each piece with bold patterns and irresistible textures so that pieces have as much textural interest as visual. I take inspiration from the patterns and repetition found in nature. Each dot, line, and arc is painted or applied one at a time by hand with intentional brushstrokes and carving lines left intact so that people can see the processes I have gone through while creating.

I make functional pieces that are meant to be used and loved and take incredible joy out of making everyday objects that double as art. The vast majority of the objects that are bought and sold in our world are machine produced and often thought of as disposable. I enjoy a making process that is intentionally slow and meditative as a direct response to this mass production. I sit down with each piece, decorating them one at a time, and often imagine the person who will one day use the object I am making, forming a connection with both the pieces and their future users. I hope that my work translates the happiness I feel while making them and that they bring the users joy for many years to come.

-Michelle