Pottery is a continuous curiosity; how it’s made, how it feels, its shape, its surface, how it exists in a home as an object, or a tool, or maybe an image. When making pottery, I search for poised forms that suggest sculpture, respect utility and perform well; they should be confident and handsome. I create my surfaces for contemplation. Moods are suggested with warmth, fluidity, and translucency. Atmospheres are veiled with fog and cool mist. Pouring and layering slip, I respond intuitively to the qualities of liquid. Aware of the tendency to put parameters around my work, of what is “good or bad”, I do my best to give the ideas room. It is important to pursue the clues that linger on the periphery of my pottery, which are often sculptural and beyond the scale of tableware. The process each new idea reveals drives me forward.
Matt Kelleher has recently joined the ceramic faculty at Alfred University after a decade of working as a studio potter in the mountains of western North Carolina. Matt has participated in residencies at Penland School of Crafts, Archie Bray Foundation, and Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan. As Matt continues to investigate soda-fired tableware, his studio practice now includes larger sculptural ideas.