Spotlight: Shadow May

My name is Shadow May. I'm a born and raised Alaskan, and have been a potter for about fifteen years now. I've worked across the USA …from Alaska to Tennessee, North Carolina to Hawaii… gathering knowledge and refining my skills. I received my training through many different avenues. I spent a short time in college, and attended workshops as well as numerous intense apprenticeships, while also throwing production (piece work) for companies.

Everything up 'til now has influenced my growth, my views and my life as a potter. I've just let my pots evolve with myself. The interactions, conversations, confrontations--whatever it is--come out in my pots. Learning to listen and reflect has shaped the pots I make today. I am always evolving. Whether I throw ten pots in a day or a hundred, the silent lessons I learn from the clay are always there.

I work with a cone six-to-ten porcelain, mostly because it is very responsive to my touch and the marks I leave behind. Glazing on porcelain also brings rich texture and color. I wedge all my clay and mix my glazes from scratch. I throw on an old Randall kick-wheel which I worked on during my first apprenticeship in Tennessee. There are four to five glazes that I work with and interchange with new ones as I test them. Right now I fire a twenty-one cubic foot oval electric kiln eight to nine times every other month. My true passion, however, is wood-firing pots and drinking good beer.

I try to work as hard as I can and then work harder. I believe that I only have one chance at this--at everything. I give it my all, never holding back. I welcome mistakes and struggles-it brings triumph and character. Working as a potter, above anything I have done in my life so far, has given me more love for the daily living in my life and the quiet yet profound importance of love and friendship (how to lean when you need to and being the one who is leaned upon). I hope my pots bring good conversation and wholesome living to your life.