Michael Cole

Throughout my life I have been drawn to activities that involve creating with my hands. I’ve learned macramé, crochet, knitting, cake decorating, finish carpentry, tiling, cooking, baking, set construction, sewing and more. I enjoyed the process of learning these skills and often enjoyed the results, but when I put my hands on a wet lump of claying spinning on a potter’s wheel, I found a new passion. My love for pottery and the world of ceramics began here at the Putnam Arts Council in 2011, when after decades of procrastinating, I finally signed up for a pottery class, which was taught by the late Maaike Hoekstra.

One of the things I find so wonderful about ceramics is that there are so many different “lanes” to try, for example: raku, wood-firing, soda firing, porcelain, stoneware, functional pots vs. sculptural works, wheel throwing vs. hand-building, jewelry, beads, and on and on… I have explored many of these different aspects of ceramics and find all of it endlessly interesting.

I have been wanting to learn the process of mixing glazes from scratch instead of using commercial glazes (think baking a cake from scratch vs. buying a box mix) and this is where I find myself on my clay journey today. The images I’m sharing here are a representation of some of my tests and some finished work featuring these new glazes. It is a labor-intensive process that requires much testing, note keeping and problem solving.

Now that I have some glazes that I’m happy with and as I learn how they behave, I am also beginning to explore new shapes and gestures in my work that will correlate with these new glazes. Very recently I have been challenged by my mentor Jon Townley to try and bring a unified “shape language” into each piece I make, which has been a delightfully challenging and hugely rewarding exploration.

My pottery studio is my happy place. I never want this love affair to end.