Lois Olcott Price

Lois’s ceramic journey began after a long and happy career as an art conservator and Director of Conservation at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Her specialty was books and paper, a discipline requiring great precision and care.  Looking for a creative outlet and a change of pace in retirement, a ceramics course introduced her to the divinely messy and forgiving nature of clay.  The materials, techniques and chemistry fascinated her.  After early work on the wheel, an introduction to hand building allowed her creative energies to flourish as she enriched her experience through workshops and classes, first in Pennsylvania and then in Santa Fe after her move in 2017. 

Her current work centers on figurative and sculptural work inspired by the human form and its expressive potential and by the people, architecture, landscape and colors of New Mexico.  Each work has a story; sometimes part of its conception and sometimes emerging during its creation.  Social justice and environmental issues both intrude and inspire.

Using various mid-fire stoneware clays, forms incorporate both coil and slab building as well as traditional sculptural techniques. Lois strives to maintain and enhance the character of the clay surface with slips, transfers, terra sigillata, underglaze, and oxides; she uses glazes, which hide the clay, sparingly.  After two to four firings at varying temperatures, a light application of tinted waxes enhances design, color and texture.