ARTIST STATEMENT
My writing, political activism and ceramic art all come from the same hands. I intend for the pitted and painterly surfaces of my clay pieces to remind viewers of just how ancient this practice is — shaping damp clay into vessels with our hands. Since I come from a long line of women who garden I especially like making vases.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Originally from Memphis, Carol Spindel lives in Urbana, Illinois. She is the author of three books of nonfiction and many essays, works as an activist with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois and makes ceramic art in her home studio. She spends summers in coastal New Hampshire and woodfires each summer with the New Hampshire Potters Guild in a large cooperative kiln she helped build. She has a BFA in ceramics from the University of Iowa and an MA in Art History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her MA thesis was on women potters in northern Ivory Coast, West Africa. For many years she taught creative nonfiction at the University of Illinois and the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
© Carol Spindel