MARY LOUISE CARTER

STATEMENT

My desire to live and work in relationship to others is integral to my work as a functional potter. I imagine that everything I make will find a place in someone’s life.

My work is about refinement. It is about honing in on the essential. I look at the way that nature creates — the connection between trunk and branch, stem and fruit, the way the petals of a flower unfurl. Could there be a better way to complete the human hand than the precise fit between skin and nail?

In my quest for clear and elegant solutions to form and function, I try to override my intellectual reaction; perfection is a trap I have encountered. Instead, I judge my work by trusting my physical response.

When someone I love walks into the room there is a bodily felt sensation. When the pot is right, a sense of warmth and excitement comes through.

I want my work to offer a safe haven. After a long and hectic day you finally arrive. Someone waits — attentive, tending, considerate, concerned. There is a slow exhale.