Louise Pentz

"My love for clay is base on the historical connection it gives me with every other man, woman and child who for the past five thousand years has scooped it from the earth, shaped it with their hands, hardened it in their fires and sustained life itself by storing and eating their food from these vessels. What a vital connection!

I celebrate this continuum of creating clay vessels each time I dig through the ashes of my kiln, anxious to see what the flames have given me. It is enthralling to be a part of this unbroken line.

The rich exterior of the smoke fired vessel is not glaze. It is the clay itself that has been burnished, coloured, fired and polished to reveal the magical marks left by the smoke and flames during this ancient, alchemic process."