insomnia pottery

Ginger Steele at salt kiln

From the Artist

Inspired by the beautiful surfaces and subtle colors of salt-fired pottery, I built my own salt kiln in 2004. After ten years of creating highly decorated red earthenware pottery, I wanted to bring a quieter and more abstract sensibility to the work.

Each piece is individually shaped at the potter's wheel or formed by hand, decorated with slips and glazes after a bisque fire, and then perched on tiny balls of refractory wadding before placement in the kiln. The bottom of each vessel shows the mark its passage through the fire and vapor. With every firing there are new possibilities for learning; chance combinations of clay, slip, and glaze that can be incorporated into the design of the next series of pots.

The unpredictable collaboration of salt vapor and kiln position makes each pot unique and reveals extraordinary possibilities for color and imagery that are artistic nourishment for a working potter.