I make utilitarian pottery. I love that I can make beautiful, functional, everyday objects that are a pleasure to use. Most of my work is designed to be used with food: dinnerware, servingware, and bakeware. It is a joy to me to hear that one of my cups is someone’s favorite and that it is used daily. Of my more decorative work, I especially enjoy making large platters and bowls because they can impact a room as an ornament and can also be taken down and used as a serving dish.
I work primarily in midrange stoneware. Most of my forms start off on the potter’s wheel and are then altered to suggest a more organic nature. Various surface design techniques are employed to soften the surfaces and give reference to landscapes and botanical imagery. The references to nature are inspired by my love of the outdoors and lifelong nature explorations. I’m an avid gardener and oftentimes my gardening and pottery-making intersect to inspire a piece of pottery for the garden. I enjoy the process of working in clay, exploring the limitless possibilities of the medium and the joy of discovery. The more I learn about pottery-making, the more I discover I will never know it all.
Bio
Nancy received a BFA in Art from the University of Georgia with concentrations in ceramics and textile design. After a successful career as a textile designer with Milliken and Company, she now works in clay. Nancy sells her work primarily through West Main Artists Co-op in Spartanburg where she maintains a studio, and through an annual sale.
Nancy was featured in the Spartanburg History Museum’s Exhibition: Pottery Then and Now. She is known in the Spartanburg community as a long-time teacher of beginning and intermediate clay classes at Spartanburg Art Museum School. She is a founding member and past chair of Carolina Clay Artists, a founding member and Management Board member at West Main Artists Co-op, and a founding member and a past chair of the Hub City Empty Bowls Project, leading the community to raise tens of thousands of dollars to feed the hungry through the making of hand-crafted pottery bowls. She is also a Master Gardener and a member of the Spartanburg Artists’ Guild.
