Judith Duff Workshop
Functional Compositions - 2007
Judith Duff will demonstrate a combination of wheel thrown and slab construction to produce organic forms of irregular shape and texture. Participants will learn Judith's approach for throwing and altering a wide variety of forms of uncommon visual strength. Judith will demonstrate throwing large pieces in sections, techniques for hand trimming, and various methods for texturing surfaces. She will include tea bowls, handled baskets, square and triangle vases, teapots, oval forms, trays, and bottles. Judith will also discuss her training in biology and painting, the beginnings of her career as a studio artist, and her frequent travels to work and teach in Japan.
Participants will learn to impart character to their work with altering techniques such as faceting, fluting, incising, and adding deliberate anomalies. Judith will address considerations important to her such as line quality, imagery, texture, and composition. She will discuss her interest in architectural influences in functional pottery, and demonstrate tactics for pursuing this.
Judith will discuss her extensive research into Japanese Shino glazes and clays. Participants will gain an understanding of the different finish effects and firing practices for the kilns Judith uses -- including a wood-fired anagama kiln, a wood-fired train kiln, and a Japanese shino reduction kiln.
A video of famous Japanese potters' throwing techniques, including Goro Suzuki, will be shown.
Class size 35.
Free to the public
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Judith Duff Bio
Since 1991 Judith has been a full-time studio potter in North Carolina. While earning degrees in biology and painting, she discovered clay as a way to express form in three dimensions. Working with various clays, Judith makes functional and one-of-a-kind pots with a strong emphasis on form and surface character. She fires with both wood and gas and has studied throughout the United States and Japan. She was chosen to participate in the International Workshop for Ceramic Art in Tokoname (IWCAT), Japan (1999) where she fired noborigama and anagama kilns. In 2004 Judith made her fourth trip to Japan where she spent two months making pots, firing two kilns, and participating in exhibitions. Judith recently received a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council to research Japanese Shino clays and glazes and, while on her recent trip, she interviewed potters working with shinos in the Mino area of Japan.
The Mid Atlantic Clay Conference in Front Royal, VA featured Judith as a principle artist in 2003. Judith's pottery was featured on the cover of Clay Times, a national ceramics magazine, as part of its coverage of this major conference. Articles written by her have recently appeared in Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter and The Log Book. Judith has taught workshops throughout the United States and in Japan. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at many juried and invitational shows including the American Shino Exhibition, Babcock Galleries, New York. Her work has also been seen on the Discovery Channel's Home Matters. Several fine galleries represent her work and her showroom in Brevard, NC is open to the public.
Judith Duff Artist Statement
Since 1991, when I became a full time studio potter, I have watched my ideas come to life through my work with clay. My pottery begins on the wheel and is altered in various ways to make each pot distinctive and unique. The pots are fired in either a wood or gas reduction kiln to achieve a variety of surface effects. The line quality, imagery, and compositions are strongly influenced by my degrees in biology and painting.
My goal as a potter is to communicate my vision through the strength of the form. I work to create beautiful, functional pieces while seeking individual avenues for self-expression. I am not afraid of failure and I experiment continually with new ideas. Always growing through change, I value the unique and the unusual.
I want my creations to be used and enjoyed daily. As someone cradles a tea bowl in their hands or arranges food on a hand thrown platter or eats from a handmade plate, I like to think that I touch them in some way. I hope they are encouraged to rejoice in the world around them and to see that world imaged and celebrated in the shape of a simple pot.
