Nic DeStefano is the April Potter of the Month.
Age: 34
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Occupation: Visual production//ceramics teacher
Favorite Glaze: Brady's Black
My interest with ceramics started in college where my main focus was on sculpture. Clay was the medium I found most engaging and I chose ceramics as the concentration of my BS in Studio Art. My work touches on a few disciplines but also crosses a range of ideas. Generally my work retains a minimalist quality while exploring basic sculptural elements like shapes, textures and forms and is all hand built for the most part.
The vessels on the left in the picture are part of a series I've been working on for a while. The basic form is a shape that I've found myself drawn to and one that I have repeated quite a bit in exploring texture and color variation.
The series of body parts is a conceptual work in progress. Though quite sculptural the work was inspired by the idea that images of war are perversely 'sanitized for our protection'. That more and more over the years the media has censored graphic images of death and destruction due to armed combat. And the result of this sanitization is a reverse desensitization of sorts; where the everyday citizen makes no personal connection to media reports of deaths by war because they are not seeing the image of someone just like them blown to bits by a bomb. My main argument for this concept is the events surrounding a war like Vietnam, where the everyday citizen was subject to, by far, the most disturbingly explicit images of war(while the war was happening) and in turn had what is most likely the largest mobilization of war protest by the American public.
The black "martini pitcher" set was something I made in response to a great show La Mano recently held called Pots That Pour: Teapots and Pitchers. I had a lot of fun hand building the set and enjoyed creating the MOD elements that are part of the pieces.
The last image is of two pieces in a series of ultra-thin dish type vessels I've been making. They are definitely more of a fun but delicate accessory type piece that can be used to hold anything from jewelry to a beautiful succulent or just as purely aesthetic decoration.
For just about a year and a half I've had the privilege of teaching a hand building class at La Mano. I was excited at the opportunity and have enjoyed a very different experience in helping others bring to fruition their clay ideas as opposed to working on my own endeavors. At the same time the single most appealing and challenging aspect I find with working in clay is the fact that the clay is the stuff of pure imagination. One literally has the capacity to create almost anything they can conjure up in their head. The challenge is sorting through those ideas and having the patience and drive to commit to making the work and the many trials that come along with refining your idea. So helping my students flesh out their ideas and showing them the techniques they need to accomplish what they want is very rewarding.
Most of all I am grateful and blessed to be part of the warm and welcoming community of unique and amazing individuals that call La Mano home. It's a special breed of people who find their way to clay (or is it the clay that finds them?), and to share the cathartic experience of making art, sharing life, and just plain having fun with folks I consider my family in clay.
Nic's work is on display through the month of April at La Mano in the store front window.