Artist Statement

I have been very reluctant to write an Artist Statement, primarily because I prefer my work to speak for itself, but also because I’ve always considered functional pottery to reside first in the realm of craft. I make things that are intended for daily use, simple things that hold liquid, food, plants, or other items.

I'm mainly interested in making pottery for use with food and drink. The smaller, the better. Why? Because you may touch something large, such as a flower vase, only once as you place it on a table or a shelf to admire. After that, it remains primarily a piece to be enjoyed only visually. Unless you move it often, your aesthetic connection to a large vase is fairly limited to what you see. I prefer to make things that potentially will have a stronger aesthetic connection with an individual over time.

You may pick up a coffee mug, cup, dish, or soup bowl, dozens of times in a week – each time potentially feeling a more intimate connection with it. You have many opportunities to encounter its colors and surfaces from all angles. When holding a piece of hand-thrown pottery, you are easily reminded that there are no others made exactly like it. You recall that you purchased it, in part, because it felt right in your hand. That’s the pottery I'm most interested in making.

So, I'm generally focused on form, texture, and the other tactile qualities of the stoneware I'm making. I also try to create colors that enhance the surface and communicate a subtle continuity in relation to the form. I want my pottery to have a warm, woodsy look and feel … and a natural geologic quality. I'm looking for something fairly impossible somewhere between a natural geologic formation deep inside a rainforest and a dishwasher-safe coffee mug or yunomi that's a pleasure to hold.

If, for example, you stumbled upon one of my pieces unexpectedly in the moss and leaves on a remote woodland trail, I want it to appear that – and feel like – it belongs there, that it was created there, not that it was created by me. That's what Ivy Creek Stoneware is about.

Occasionally you may see a leaf, a vine, or a flower on Ivy Creek Stoneware, but I generally avoid representational decoration that could distract from the form and subtle texture of the work. This year's production will be a variation on what I produced last year, and next year's pottery will be newer still. My head is always ahead of my hands.

My work also is strongly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic philosophy and objectives of Wabi Sabi. (It’s not a Western concept, but you should have no trouble discovering more about it if that kind of thing interests you.)

Any art that exists in the making of my work or that may be perceived in one of my pieces is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. But the physical skills, technical knowledge, discipline, study, aesthetic approach, and commitment to the craft of pottery are mine, for better or worse. I make what I make. It’s not for me to decide if it’s art.

Glenn Roesler

Ivy Creek Stoneware

A potter on his wheel is doing two things at the same time:

He is making hollow wares to stand upon a level

surface for common use in the home

... and he is exploring space.

- Bernard Leach

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Stoneware Pottery Indianapolis

Stoneware Pottery Indiana