Betsy Williams

Artist's Statement:

My experience in clay is idiosyncratic. From day one my training has been in Japanese methods, beginning with my experience at a small Japanese pottery studio in Manhattan and culminating in completion of a 4½ year apprenticeship in Japan in 1999 and my return to the US.  I work in a certain way drawing from a repertoire of traditional skills not familiar to my peers

But in my work, there is another strong force which I think of as a kind of ‘un-learning.’  My urge to create pushes me to find something I can bring to the centuries of traditional skills that precede me, something spontaneous, relevant, current. The tension between what I’ve learned and what I’m unlearning holds my work together.  Through my training I learned a vocabulary in clay, and through my work I try to communicate using this vocabulary.

Central to my work are the integrity and beauty of the materials, and the firing, which is done primarily with wood using age-old techniques in a kiln I built myself in 2001. The intensive wood-firing experience enhances the depth of the glaze colors, as well as the color of the clay bodies.

Most of my work is wheel-thrown off-the hump, with some slab built pieces.  I do not use any molds.  I make all of my own glazes and decorate many pieces with a brush. Pieces designed for daily use, the foundation of my work, often become components of installations designed for contemplation and display. I make simple forms - round objects and their endless variations, clay cubes that are mounted on the wall.  I concentrate on basic shapes and their relationship to one another.

Pattern, visual rhythm, and the dynamic between pieces as they relate to one another and to the viewer motivate my work.