Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith ~ Ceramics

Let the beauty we love be what we do.  
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.  
                                        -Rumi
  
 I absolutely love working with clay.   The familiar action of grabbing a chunk of moist earth settles my heart and brings me home.   I build each piece by hand, pinch and coil, watching the form take shape inch by inch.  The slight texture on the surface reveals this process of handbuilding. Throughout my work, pieces are composed of several stacking parts; each head lifts up to reveal treasures within the vessel of the body.  I tend not to overly define the form so there’s a lot of space for the image to arise in the painting of a figure.  If every detail were put down in the clay, then the glazing process would be more like filling in a coloring book versus painting an open canvas.  
    The surface of each piece is decorated with layers of slips, underglazes, stains and oxides, all applied before firing.  By painting the glaze on raw clay, I have the liberty to work and rework a piece, scratching into the clay or scratching off a design to begin anew.  I am constantly mixing colors or layering slips in new ways, so there are always surprises when it’s time to unload the kiln.  How wonderful that after all my hours of work, the fire gets the final say.
    My artwork is where I know how to smile at the unknown and delight in the gap between what I think I’m going to do and what actually happens.  In that space is all the magic.  It’s the crack where mystery seeps in and new ideas are born.  Studio is a world unto itself for me, where I can manifest joy and create a world of beauty and delight.  I feel so blessed to do what I love.

Highly colorful striped two faced devil-dolls with hidden heads stacking to play with and surprise with their two sided design and colors schemes – different on each side.! Smith's tall imposing Janus faced figures with 6 faces on three stacked heads with their piercing eyes make moveable faces for turning this way and that. Cat head vases in many sizes have yellow eyes that stare out at the viewer impassive but steady. Smith's striped ceramic in black and white or yellow and red hand drawn brushed lines sit atop their their own set of rolling wheels. Land Fish. Lisa Smith's world of small charming table top sculptures asks the viewer to play in her unique world of Pure Fantastical Whimsy.