Patterns and Process
Pottery of Becca Floyd and Christopher Greenman

For its five-year anniversary exhibition, MudFire Gallery mounts an impressive exhibition featuring works by North Carolina potter Becca Floyd and Alabama clay artist Dr. Christopher Greenman. While disparate in style, both artists reflect influences of the "Great Tradition" of British ceramicist Bernard Leach and the Asian aesthetic of Shoji Hamada.

The artist reception and exhibit opening will be held Saturday, August 11, from 5-9 pm. The exhibit and sale will be on display through September 8, 2007.

About the Show

The clay works of Becca Floyd and Christopher Greenman travel across an extensive repertoire of subjects and objects executed by both artists in a complementary yet distinctive way.

Ms. Floyd's thrown and altered porcelain and stoneware works are formally and distinctively functional. Her teabowls, jars, sake sets, bowls, and platters demonstrate a strong grasp of minimalist design, while her sushi sets are almost sculptural in their monumental scale and stackable arrangements. A ceramicist for nearly 15 years, her facility with clay and glazes is reflected in geometric punctuations, linear explorations and graceful forms. Precise yet flowing brushwork is the hallmark of her work, pointing to traditional and contemporary Asian influences.

Becca Floyd earned a BFA at Middle Tennessee State University and is currently a studio potter in Mars Hill, NC. Becca teaches at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, and is a master teacher at Odyssey Clay Center.

Dr. Greenman's work is inspired by Mengei "folk pottery", and bears witness to simple, unadorned forms made for use in Japan, Korea and China. A clay artist for 22 years, his pottery evokes a certain "love of roughness" and reflects a beauty with inner implications: earth-honest, process-honest and fire-honest pottery that does not hide the marks of the potter and elements that form it. His bowls, jars, teapots and serving dishes are simple, unadorned forms made for use, with a knowledge of trying to reconnect the user with the outside world of nature.

Dr. Greenman is a Doctor of Philosophy and a Professor of Art at Alabama State University. Dr. Greenman seeks inspiration from aesthetics of Japanese pottery and seeks to find his place in the "Great Tradition" of pottery. He delights in creating forms that allow a viewer or user to reconnect with the world of nature.