Made With a Bailey Interview Featuring Clayfolks Ceramics

Made With a Bailey interview featuring Clayfolks Ceramics

Website: www.clayfolksceramics.com (coming soon!)

Instagram: @clayfolks / @joannajeanroy

What drew you to clay as a medium?

I have always been drawn to clay - especially sculptures and vessels from antiquity. I was intrigued, as a young art student, by the vessels of the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks, where decorative surfaces were a means of storytelling, revealing intricate narratives and allegories. These pottery forms have continually informed my work as a printmaker, painter, quilter, and ceramicist. I am interested in the everyday function of stoneware, its history, and how it ‘holds’ food, beverage, and arrangements on the table. I love a traditional still life with vessels of fruit, swaths of decorative fabric and pretty flora (think of Morandi and Cezanne). The utilitarian purpose and visceral aspect of pottery struck a chord with me early on, and I started collecting objects and vessels that inspired me and felt good in my hands (I still use a wheel thrown mug I bought at age eleven on Ocracoke Island, NC. It was made by a local ceramicist named Amy, and I haven’t found one I like better since). Each piece has a personality of its own and a unique function. I try to realize this in my own pieces.

Can you tell us about your Bailey equipment and how it helps you create your work?

I have a Bailey DRD 30 electric slab roller with a long table. This is a one pass roller and literally my workhorse. It is the most essential component to my studio workflow and has allowed me the luxury of slab production without the wear and tear on my limbs. The electric motor allows for a smooth and even pass where the slabs are consistent and near perfection every time! I am able to dial-in the thickness to the nearest millimeter.

Do you have a favorite part of the ceramic process?

I would say the manipulating of the slab surfaces is the process of creating that lights me up. All of my pieces are made from slabs first. After which, the clay is hand-malleted over various forms and etched with tools I have made from found objects, stones and fabrics. I love imperfections, scars and non-repeated lines; the indents from my wedding ring and the scratches from my nails can sometimes be found on the surface of my bowls and plates. I leave all of the details in. Every piece is unique, but as a whole body (or set) work together in harmony. I find the irregular beautiful.

What inspires the organic textures you create on your pieces?

I love texture, and fabric inspires me a great deal: jute braided placemats, loosely woven cheesecloth, homespun quilt squares, tangled linen remnants. I use these textures extensively on the surface of my clay work. The intricacies of the imprints allow for great glaze patterns and unusual color deposits. Additionally, the surface renderings create personality traits among the pieces - identifiable birthmarks, ‘favorite’ markers.

What are you excited to try next in the studio?

I am currently working on some big table pieces (imagine if Hans Coper + Paul Klee collaborated with blindfolds on). I am marrying my fine art paintings with my commercial functional stoneware. I am treating the vessel as a canvas and creating one-of-a-kind pieces - a little allegory, a little nod to antiquity. All the work is slab and coil and I’m currently starting an edition. The functional stoneware is happening in parallel, but I am really enjoying stretching my legs a bit and combining the disciplines of painting and hand building.