About Marie Sandusky

I became interested in pottery through my eighth-grade art teacher.  My father, sharing my curiosity, ordered a kit and built a kick wheel for him and me. I have been working in clay ever since, and that kick wheel remains a key piece of equipment in my studio to this day.

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While in graduate school, I took classes and learned from accomplished potters teaching at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Decatur, Georgia. After moving to Little Rock, I continued to develop my skills through classes and workshops at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I benefit from being part of an active community of potters who come together annually to support the firing of an authentic wood-fired anagama kiln in Oark, Arkansas. 

 

In creating ceramic work, I make both functional pots for everyday use and sculptural pieces made to enhance the spaces they inhabit.

 

Each of my functional pieces is unique and reflects the historic influences of Japanese potters filtered down through such American masters as our dearly departed, Warren Mackenzie. I throw my forms loosely while at the same time seek an exactness for their intended use. I like to think of these pots as vessels that enhance communication between myself as the maker and those who use them.

 

My sculptural work is either hand built or thrown on the wheel and altered. I enjoy exploring the limits of what clay can reach as it is stretched, paddled, cut, added onto, and pressed by various textures.  I gain inspiration from aspects of architecture and the endless beauty of the natural world.  Once my pieces are complete, they are bisque fired then glazed.  In addition to the annual wood fired process, I finish my work using the ancient Japanese method of firing called “Raku” which means enjoyment. 

 

I am endlessly enthralled by the mysterious surprise: elements of the earth are transformed by fire.