I make pottery as an active participant in the coming together of people, sharing, and the enjoyment of food. Eating a beautifully prepared meal creates a celebration. I make pieces of service and I make interaction. I build my pottery using a range of techniques from the coil and slab to the wheel, responding to the mark of my hand in each. Form and surface are tightly intertwined, one setting up the other. My floral motifs are a mapping out of cone six glazes that enable me to consider the design, color, as well as sheen and viscosity of each glaze creating surfaces with tension, movement, and subtle shifts in texture.
Coming to the Clay Studio I bring my excitement for expanding on these aspects of my work. I have been working from home during the Stay In Place period of Covid-19 and am eager to make. I have plans to push through ideas in series, learning through repetition, focusing on the volume of jars with their round bellies to exaggerate the tension of the glaze, and the open slope of a bowl as a useful canvas. I am so excited to get to know Philadephia as a city and become part of the creative community of The Clay Studio. This is an amazing opportunity for me as an emerging artist to invest in my studio practice and focus on my career.
Bio
(b. 1984) Ruth Easterbrook was born in Redwood Valley, California growing up with the hills as her playground. She was first introduced to clay in High School which led her to study ceramics in college graduating in 2007 with a BFA at Syracuse University. She then spent many years learning through practice and hands-on learning as an apprentice at Hoyman-Browe Studios (CA) and assisting various artists including Whitney Smith Pottery (CA). In 2014 she began focusing on her career starting with a spring concentration class at Penland School of Craft (NC) and then spending extended time at Anderson Ranch Arts Center (CO) as a student, summer intern, and returning as an Artist In Resident in 2016. In 2019 Ruth earned her MFA in ceramics at Alfred University. Now she continues her research first as an Artist in Residence at The Harvard Ceramics Program (MA) and currently at The Clay Studio (PA). She has been awarded the honor of Emerging Artist for NCECA 2020 and has shown her work across the country and has work in the Alfred Ceramics Arts Museum collection as well as other permanent personal collections.
