Author: La Mano

Diane Hardy Waller is the current potter of the month. Her work, shown below, will be on display at the studio through the end of February.

Artist's Statement

Creativity is a driving force. It flows through me like magic. Everything is an opportunity to think and feel differently about materials, people, myself, nature and God. The search for the divine in my surroundings inspires and motivates me.

When I look inside me or around me for an idea to make from clay, I notice the basic shape first and then the graphic elements; these satisfy my need for order and godliness. Then I wait for the clay to tell me what it wants to be to make the object unique and personal. I enjoy finding the irony, humor and tenderness in the form. Most exciting is when the whole process is spontaneous: Divine Inspiration expressing through me.

Peggy Clarke is our featured artist this month. In the window of the studio and in our gallery, you can see an array of Peggy's recent work which includes a study of small porcelain teapots and a series of large hand-coiled vessels that Peggy calls her "yoga bodies".

Here is how she describes these pieces and what they mean to her:

"I discovered ceramics quite by accident about 10 years ago and I was immediately hooked on the technical challenges, the creative outlet and the mental focus that clay offers to its students. In a very different way, studying clay has taught me some of the same lessons that practicing yoga has.

"These two disciplines, while physically demanding at times, are as much about finding balance and listening to yourself as they are about achieving a particular outcome. Yoga and ceramics have helped me to 'get centered'.....to 'be flexible'.....and to 'accept change'.....in such delightful and unexpected ways.

"This past year, I combined my two passions and created a series of 25 hand-made ceramic vessels that represent the bodies of my yoga students. In constructing these pieces, I pay tribute to the beauty, grace and strength of my students whose influence on my life has been profound. Each piece was constructed of coils or slabs and lovingly formed -- to reflect the energy and spirit that I witness in every class I teach."

Peggy is one of La Mano's owners and also teaches pottery classes in our studio. She teaches 9 yoga classes a week, ranging from advanced vinyasa classes to basic classes in yoga and meditation. Peggy is a member of the faculty of FIT.

The work of Bob Pesce is on display in the front window and the gallery this month.

Bob Pesce is a display designer and native New Yorker who mastered the use of a potter’s wheel at age fourteen and hasn’t stopped yet.  His undergraduate work at Pratt Institute and the art department  at Brooklyn College has led to exhibitions of his pottery and wood sculpture at both institutions as well as a co-op gallery in Brooklyn.

His current series of ceramic pieces center on a fascination with the continuity of the cosmos as seen in the small everyday object . (Think the marbles at the end of “Men in Black”).  Organic and sensuous, his pieces evoke whirlpools and flowers among other things.  Think of yourself enveloped in a swirling mass of comforting energy and you’ll be right at home with his work.

Professional work includes the Holiday Décor Installations at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the residence of the Vice President (Al Gore), the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, as well as twenty  rooms (each room themed in a different fairy tale) at the Lyndhurst Castle  in Tarrytown.  His work has been published in the book, The Heart of Christmas, as well as the Village Voice, Victorian Homes, The Journal News, Westchester Magazine, and numerous trade magazines and is the basis for the book A Fairy Tale Christmas (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, NYC, a subsidiary of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.).

Bob's work will also be featured at the TOJ Gallery booth at The Modern Show: October 16-18, 2009, 7 W 34th Street at Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Melissa Green is the current Potter of the Month. Her work, pictured below, will be featured in the front window at the studio for all of July.

Artist's Statement

In addition to a fulfilling career in NYC banking and real estate, I began to study pottery in 1995, as a student with Anke Bosse at Ceramix studio in Manhattan. In 1998, along with several talented partners, I founded La Mano Pottery in Chelsea, NYC, and took part in growing that business into the successful and thriving gallery and teaching studio that it is today.

Although I no longer have an ownership interest in La Mano, I continue to work there as a studio potter. I also started the after-school pottery program for IS 89 middle school students, and worked closely with that group from post 9/11 pottery workshops through 2005.

I love playing with color and texture in clay. I focus on functional pottery, and have never concentrated on one particular style. I prefer to let each piece speak in its own voice, reflecting a feeling, mood, or attitude. My work ranges from carved pieces to altered jars and bowls to hand-sculpted ware, and I work both on and off the wheel.

Melissa E. Green -- Greenwareceramics.com