My work is soda fired porcelain. It begins with the consideration of function, and the goal is for the form and surface of the pots to be interdependent. Making the work starts with a three-dimensional division of space, continues with drawing on the surface, and finishes with the addition of color. New ideas are gradually incorporated into previous bodies of work through making. Source information for my pots can be motivated by something as simple as looking at the patterns in the stacked bricks of my kiln to something as complex as the forms in 18th century European manufactured silver. I experience the evolution of my work through creative repetition in the studio. I am interested in having my work display both practical and extravagant attributes. I am drawn to work that is rich in ornamentation, with lavish use of materials- both scarce in a culture of mass production. Functional pottery, in its connection to sustenance, closely relates to the human body, revealing what it means to be human. Handmade pots are potent in their power to reveal the extraordinary, within the ordinary. I am driven by the insatiable pursuit of the “good pot”. Successful in terms of tactile, visual, and functional attributes; lastingly significant when packed with the passion of the maker- reflecting humanity, and contributing to the craft.
Lorna Meaden grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago. She received a B.A. from Fort Lewis College in 1994, and an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University 2005. She has been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Her work is represented my several national galleries. She has taught numerous workshops nationally and internationally, in addition to being featured as a demonstrator and lecturer at the National Council on Education in Ceramic Arts, and Utilitarian Clay V: Celebrate the Object. Lorna is currently a studio potter in Durango, CO.