Abby Salsbury

Artist's Statement:

My current body of work is the result of my concentration on throwing, hand building and mold making in the last 14 years. My attraction to design, function, form, color and texture has evolved toward a clearer idea of creating pots that participate in the daily lives of their owners, rather than unnoticed behind cabinet doors.

My love of clay began with summer classes at the age of 7 and lead me to majoring in ceramics at the Philadelphia College of Art and the University of Colorado. In 1991, I opened my studio in Massachusetts and began developing a line of hand thrown tableware to sell to retailers within the United States, through the American Craft Council and Rosen Wholesale shows.

In 1996 my husband, furniture maker and sculptor, Dean Pulver, and I moved to Snowmass Village, Colorado to work and study at the Anderson Ranch Arts center. This experience, and our discovery of the Southwest, brought us to Taos in 1997. I began making molds of the forms I had developed in Massachusetts and through retail shows in the southwest I introduced Butterpie Productions. In the last 8 years I have been fortunate enough to make a living solely through my craft.

At present I continue to sell my line to faithful collectors, as well as developing new design ideas for production and one of a kind pots, to keep those creative juices flowing.

As a clay artist it is my intent to create a hand made, decorative and functional pot that holds a sense of craftsmanship and history of art but that still can be afforded and collected for the purpose of everyday use.