Shirley Cadmus
I hesitate to call my work “pottery”, as that usually refers to functional ware. Creating one-of-a-kind pieces, I feel a great deal of satisfaction giving life to formless clay.
I love the challenge of the wheel in forming rounded or bottle shapes with small openings at the top and the unpredictable earthy results of Raku, wood and pit firing. Always experimenting with color oxides, glazes and burnable materials, each piece of pottery is totally unique. Nature is very important to me, and as a result, I often knead various sands into the clay – sands that I have collected during my travels. I also work tiny copper filaments into clay and glazes, and all of my wood-fired glazes contain ashes from Mt. St. Helen. I am captivated by the interaction of earth, fire and water in the creation of objects whose surfaces capture and reflect this interaction.
Shirley Cadmus