New Artists Participating this Year: Lora Rust

We are quite happy to have an extensive line-up of regional ceramic artists. In fact, the majority of our artists currently live in Georgia! This year, we're happy to announce that we have 12 new artists participating.

A newcomer to Fired Works is Lora Rust, from Atlanta. Katy McDougal was kind enough to suggest her, and we're excited to see more of her work. She is currently a studio potter, and also works as the instructor for Beginning and Intermediate Wheel courses at the Abernathy Arts Center in Sandy Springs, GA.

Lora Groton Rust

Biography and Artist Statement

January 2009

Growing up, our house was always full of ceramic art. An early admiration for artistic elements of design, form, and functionality were incorporated into my everyday life. When I found a way to express myself artistically, the modalities were always tactile. My initial inspirations and experiences were through sewing and needlepoint at an early age, and then clay, in my high school and college years.

In 2002, after a 15-year hiatus, I came back to clay and have been consistently working with it since. During a two year Assistantship at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which I have just completed, I have built a solid foundation and developed my own style applying innovative techniques for surface textures and glazes. As I texture the clay, my intentions are to create a visual reflection of form and surface. Designs and patterns found in Gothic Architecture mixed with the fluidity of the Art Nouveau period are strong influences. I also use inspiration from fashion design to help capture a certain lushness to the texture on the form. In this process of experimenting with texturing techniques, I found that making my own tools made these surfaces more original and complete, providing more depth to the surface design. My hope is to entice the user with the initial visual reflection, and then invite them into depth of the surface created by color and texture.

Fired Works will be open daily April 18th through April 26th. Until you have the opportunity to peruse her table, check out more of Lora's ceramics at her Flickr Page.