Laurie Bloom

Ceramic Art

Laurie Bloom Ceramic Arts

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Clay:  What it's like

This is what I think clay is like: 

Pottery is clay from the earth, fired till all the moisture is gone.  Sometimes there's glaze on top, sometimes it's been carved or stamped into.  When you pick it up you feel its texture, contour, weight, edges, temperature and everything else you get from holding something that came from the earth. 

It can be like an animal you feel something for, or like something from which you back away.  It may remind you of something else, or make you think of something you haven't noticed before.  You might go away and remember it later.  Maybe you'll think about something you've made before or want to make, now.     

How it happens

I thought about clay for a long time before I worked with it.   Years later it's still what brings everything together for me.  I can go to sleep visualizing a piece in progress. When I get into the studio the prior hours fade and I have only the clay in my hands.  It really never ends.  There is  always more to come out of the clay - this piece, and that piece and the next piece.

I may plan a piece from one slab or construct it from large and small scraps from other pieces.  Being handbuilt and not made using molds or a press, each piece stands on its own literally and figuratively.

Clay dries your hands out.   I'm glad to see my cat when I'm done because running clay-dried hands over cat fur is a relief.   Once my cat stepped in a green (wet) piece and I meant to make a bowl of it for him but the piece broke in the kiln.  Fortunately he is willing to eat out of pretty much anything so it didn't slow him down any.

What I make 

My work is creative and usually functional and sometimes simply evocative/decorative.

I may plan a piece from one slab, but I often construct it from scraps left from other work.  Being handbuilt, each piece stands on its own.

The type of clay I use is stoneware, usually brown and sometimes white. 

I make trays, trivets, bowls, flower sconces, wall pieces - all hand built from clay slab, usually decorated with glaze, often carved with tools and and textured with whatever works - sometimes stamps made for the purpose, sometimes found objects.

                                                                

Like many artists I also make photographs, and sometimes also gelatin prints, some of which are posted on this site.

View samples of my work

Click on the "Photo Gallery" link at the top of the page to view my work.

See my work in person

    • 13 Forest Gallery  167A Mass. Ave., Arlington.  781-641-3333   www.13forest.com
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    • Cambridge Open Studios This year (2009) l was at 99 Magazine Street  May 9 - 10. (We had fun!  Come next year!)    I'll be back in May 2010.  http://www.cambridgeartscouncil.org/CambridgeOpenStudios.html
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    • Brickbottom Artists Open Studios  This year (2009) I was at Brickbottom in Somerville,  on Nov 21-22.  Look for me there in November 2010.   http://brickbottomartists.com/
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    • Jamaica Plain Open Studios   This year (2009) I was at JP Open Studios on September 26-27 on Centre Street under my tent.  It was a blast!  Look for me in September 2010   http://jpopenstudios.com 
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    • I am glad to show my work outside of my Open Studio schedule - please Email me at lauriebloom1954 [at] gmail.com  to make an appointment.

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