IRIS PATTERSON
Title: Peacocks
Dimensions: 6” X 7”
Medium: B mix clay, raku glaze, underglaze
Date Made: June 25, 2019
Retail Price: $96
Artist’s Statement (meaning/inspiration, etc.): This piece is inspired from childhood memories. My family and I use to stay at a family run Inn, in the West Flanders (Belgium). The Inn was surrounded by fields with sheep and peacocks everywhere. My sisters and I used to play out there all day and collect peacock feathers. It seems when peacocks come up in conversation with other it often triggers fond memories. Laguna clay (b-mix) clear crackle glaze and underglaze, fired in raku kiln.
Title: Seagull’s Nest
Dimensions: 2 ½” X 13”
Medium: clay, glaze, and natural nesting
Date Made: June 20, 2019
Retail Price: $140
Artist’s Statement (meaning/inspiration, etc.): This piece is inspired by my yearly walks out to Wedge Island. Every year I hike out at low tide to go and see the seagull’s nests on the top of Wedge Island. The gulls are busy bees tending to their nests. If you get the timing right, you can go out later in the season and watch the babies learning how to fly. Miller 60 clay, black glaze on the bowl, shino glaze on the eggs, raw clay shavings, natural nesting materials such as seaweed, twigs, and feathers. Fired to electric cone 6.
Iris Patterson`s studio is located in Seaforth Nova Scotia overlooking the ocean and Three fathom Harbour. Her pottery is inspired by the sea, its creatures and its shores. Her work is mostly functional and sometimes sculptural. It is always evolving and reflects her seaside surroundings.
Iris started her journey in clay in Belgium at the age of 19, taking classes in sculpting and raku. Moving around frequently, she learned throwing while living in Maine and when she settled in Nova Scotia, attended the Atlantic Pottery Supplies’ school with Carol Smeraldo as her instructor for 6 years. To further expand her skills, she has also attended workshops with Randy Broadnax, Vincent Massy, Mariko Patterson and others. Iris is now an instructor herself and has been teaching for 8 years in her seaside studio.