Judith Richey

Artist's Statement:

I began my journey in clay in 1972 at the De Young Museum Art School in San Francisco. My work developed with a definite influence from an Eastern Esthetic - careful attention to form, balance, special finishing details, glaze application, and firing. When I moved to New Mexico, I was often teased about my work, accused of attempting to achieve translucency in stoneware. . . . (which I did, actually, with Martin Butt’s B Mix)!

Several years ago, I learned about a porcelain class being taught at The University of New Mexico, that had a special relationship with Manji Inoue Sensei, National Living Treasure in porcelain from Arita Japan. The Artita method of Porcelain is a process of working with porcelain that is unlike anything I have ever attempted with clay. Special tools are used, the wheel turns clockwise, and trimming is an art in and of itself. . I enrolled in the class at UNM, taught by Kathryne Cyman, in 2000. It is a difficult thing to change the way you work with clay after 28 years; in my case it was an incredible challenge. When I look at the pieces that I have made, I am humbled by the process, and excited by the results.

In the past, I fired exclusively in a reduction atmosphere in a gas kiln that I had built. In my new studio I am firing my work exclusively in an electric kiln, and have had to develop an entirely new palette of glazes for oxidation firings. I am pleased with the results, many of which are difficult to distinguish from the rich glazes I achieved with earlier work fired in reduction. I still continue to work in stoneware as well as porcelain. My work is wheel thrown and hand built, and I enjoy carving designs into the clay and brushwork decoration with metallic oxides.