Aysha Peltz

Most good pots, whether functional or not, conjure associations beyond use. The forms I make reference utility, the familiarity of these forms, creating an invitation to explore further. My thrown pots are built on basic geometries, cylinders or cones varying in proportion with a suggestion of volume. To these forms I add layers of texture and dimensional line that will respond to and emphasize the actions to follow. The alteration is a push into the inside or outside of the wall expanding the texture from behind, creating curves and swells in the form. This way of working naturally creates suggestions of terrain, body and flora; parched earth, a body in motion, or the imminent decay of something overripe. I fire the pots under fluid, translucent glazes preserving these “moments” in fired clay. My pleasure in making these pieces is being lost in their landscape, imagining myself in a terrain. Connected to my delight in this journey is the phenomenon that occurs when I push against a thrown, textured form to reveal something of the properties of clay.

-- Aysha Peltz

Aysha Peltz’s pottery explores imagined space, scale and the poetic properties of the ceramic medium. She is a studio potter and faculty at Bennington College in Vermont. She received her BFA and MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She has taught at many schools and craft centers including: Kansas City Art Institute, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Peters Valley Craft Center. Peltz was awarded an Emerging Artist Award at the National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts. Her work has been published in The Masters: Porcelain, The Art of Contemporary Ceramics, Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter. Her work is in many collections including: the American Museum of Ceramic Art, The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, and the Huntington Museum of Art, where she received the Walter Gropius Master Award.