Mary North
There is a simple innocence and joy to hands shaping clay. Something that awakens not only an ancestral memory of how we made it this far as a species, but also the limitless possibilities in the playground of imagination to work with what Nature offers in a sustainable and creative way.
Since I was a child I have loved creating things with natural materials found close to where I live. That love and relationship with the land has shaped me to become a potter, basket maker, primitive skills teacher, sculptor and builder of homes and structures from local, natural materials. When Life, Song, Story and Ritual led me to study micaceous pottery with master potter Felipe Ortega in 2012, I fell deeply in love with a body of Earth, a traditional process and the resplendent outcome that is Micaceous Pottery.
There is a magical alchemy that happens when eating or drinking out of a micaceous clay vessel, millions of years of being shaped by volcanoes, pressure, time, all that has been born and all that has died on that wild patch of Land, the memories of the water and stones, all that they have seen and the wisdom they hold, the transformative power of fire and the gratitude to just be here now, a small part of a beautiful, endless story, holding a little, sparkly hand made thing…and even better, sharing a meal that holds that alchemy with others.
My passion, inspiration and prayer as a craftsperson is that what I create, whether it’s micaceous tableware, a mud house, micaceous plastered walls, a woven basket or sculpted outdoor structure is that it creates an invitation to slow down, to breathe deeply, reconnect with Nature and Community and remember the magic of simple beauty.
It is a prayer for the individual as well as our culture.
