New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists
NMPCA Studio Tour

Studio Tour

Tomás R. Wolff

PO Box 246, Mountainair, NM 87036
Phone  505 715 4565
e-mail: wolff.clayworks@gmail.com
web site

Tomas Wolff

Clay Vessel 7

18" diameter x 9" tall

coiled, sawdust-fired vessel with slip stains and splatters

Gallery Image 1

 18" diameter x 9" tall

coiled, Raku -fired vessel with slip and sgraffito decoration

Tomas Wolff

Artist's Statement:

When I make a clay pot I am satisfying my own need to express myself and to enjoy the simple relationship between shapes, textures and spaces created. Like ancient artists who discovered pottery-making over 10,000 years ago, I want to connect intimately with the basic earth material which is clay.

I look at the concave and convex lines that outline the vessel’s shape (the bottom curving out and the top rim flaring in) and attempt to construct them in a manner that is pleasing to me first, and then, hopefully, to others, too. I love the organic sensual shapes of vegetables, fruits and flowers, and in my pottery making I attempt to emulate them. Some art theorists believe there is a perfect ratio which defines how those opposing (or complementary) lines make a beautiful pot, but the ancient pottery makers found the perfect shape by experience and primitive instinct. It is that primitive instinct that I am exploring, that state of intuitive space where natural  beauty is realized.

Tomas Wolff
Tomás Wolff with mosaic door frame
Back to NMPCA Main Page / ©2008 New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists. All images copyright of the respective artists. Contact Webmaster.