ARTIST STATEMENT
Hands touching clay, I am truly alive: Soul, spirit, body, connected. I make ceramics in small families using a variety of clay bodies and am interested in how the same clay body and glazes can vary in kiln atmospheres with different fuel sources and firing methods: gas, wood, electric. Negative space in my open vessel series provides simplicity and opportunity for new value, transformation, and preservation of self. The works suggest both delicacy and strength, properties of clay at various stages in the making and firing process. They serve as symbolic markers of significant milestones and experiences in life. Duality drives the making and decorating of my pots, such as the intersection of natural and urban environments where tangled vines, leaves, grasses, and weeds demonstrate both fragility and power over the human world. Opposite archetypal shapes seek to balance and provide rhythm; deliberate lines and squares oppose swirls, arcs and circles. Clay heals. It has the power to heal both the maker and the user of ceramic forms. Created by one human for another, clay invites all of us to its table.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Susan Messer McBride is Chicago based ceramic educator and artist combining her love of clay, learning and teaching. A former English teacher and ceramic artist for over twenty five years, McBride has lived and taught in the States, as well as in China, Kenya, and Mexico. She currently teaches at Made Chicago and works in her private studio, Mind Clay Body. An avid maker of functional wares for everyday use, she finds purpose and peace through ceramic work, recognizing the vast healing properties intrinsic in working with clay. These beliefs led her to Australia in early 2024 to study and receive certification as a provider of Clay Field Therapy, a haptic, sensorimotor, clay based intervention that has the power to heal trauma or developmental delays through touching clay in a shallow wooden box.
© Susan Messer McBride