Ceramic Artist
Steve Fitzgerald
My current work is mostly in variations on Raku, with post-fire, pre-reduction sprays of ferric chloride and all sorts of other ingredients. I use a lot of slip trailing, impressions, and employ a variety of materials to do the reductions, including dropped ponderosa pine needles from Colorado.
White Crackle Ichirin
Ichirin is Japanese for “wheel”, the base form for this series. Celtic cross inspired designs are made with slip trails and incisions using various found objects. Each piece combines wheel thrown, slab, hand built, and extruded elements, and are very time intensive to make.
Copper Sand Plate
These large, hand thrown platters (designed for stands or to be hung on walls) are rare finds….platters of this size rarely survive the raku process. It took 2 years of experimentation to refine the process to achieve results like these.
Ceremonial Urn
These urns combine a variety of techniques, including wheel throwing and handbuilding, along with the raku firing. They are purely decorative, as is all my work.
Creating wearable art for the world
I like to experiment, and do so in a controlled fashion, so my pots usually evolve slowly – until that next burst of inspiration comes along. When that happens, I usually can be found in my studio late into the night, for weeks at a time, happily enjoying the brief visit from the ever-illusive muse. The sleep deprivation is worth it.
With the exception of the odd workshop, conversation with other potters, and some fantastic workshops at the fine Bemis School of Art in Colorado Springs, I am largely self-taught.
My bachelors and master’s degrees are in the social science and business disciplines – it was only after graduate school that I discovered pottery, and I’m glad I did.
