Featured Artist Grace DePledge

Ceramic artist Grace DePledge creates a stunning collection of intricately designed pottery. Enjoy, and visit her website for more.

 

 

I am a studio potter who finds joy in creating hand-carved porcelain pots that communicate life, growth, vitality, and abundance. I favor feminine, wheel-thrown forms and ornately patterned surfaces that reference nature.

 

 

I grew up surrounded by vineyards, rivers, and the mountains of California, where I developed a love for nature and artistic expression. I hold a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and spent many professional years as a creative director, cultivating skills in graphic design, typography, photography, and writing, and using those elements to craft meaningful messages.

 

 

Having transferred my creative energy to clay, I now seek to craft meaningful pots—finding both a connection to my roots in design, as well as tremendous inspiration in exploring form and pattern on the dimensional porcelain surface.

 

 

I work primarily with mid-range porcelain to create intricately carved, functional pots. My one-of-a-kind pieces are wheel-thrown and trimmed, and are then carved and decorated entirely by hand. I sketch designs onto the clay surface when it is firm, yet moist—the stage called leather hard—and then invest a significant amount of time, using a variety of tools, to carve the clay.

 

 

People ask how I decide what to carve. I am greatly inspired by the natural world, historical ornament, calligraphy, and patterns in textiles, metal work, and ceramics. I explore textural patterns in my work through ornament, movement, fluid lines, and a peaceful palette of transparent glazes.

 

 

Although decoration of each pot begins with a plan, I find that as I begin to carve, there are always spontaneous additions.

 

 

I believe that experiencing beauty is essential to life, and I value investing my work with human touch, enduring quality, and fine craftsmanship. Working in clay brings me great joy.  I hope to share that joy and bring a little art into the everyday lives of people who use my pots.