The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Teresa Speakman
Ceramist Mud Gallery Ceramics & Fine ArtLancaster OH 43130 United States Cell Phone: 740-215-1073 Website: Primitive Mud ❤ Handcraft Website: Mud Gallery
Bio
I have been fascinated with clay since the first time I touched it- like love at first sight! My experience of creating pottery is a combination of experimentation and practice and formal education at Ohio University. I enjoy both wheel-throwing and hand-building methods, and although most of my pottery is functional, I am becoming interested in larger abstract scupltural forms. My creative spaces include both my home studio where I make wheel-thrown pieces, and Mud Gallery, a studio/art gallery where I make hand-built pieces as well as teach. Mud Gallery Ceramics & Fine Art features my pottery and several Ohio artists.
Artist Statement
I fell in love with clay in the’70s when I met a group of potters in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. I was determined to follow the path! I named my studio Primitive Mud, in reverence to the ancient nature of clay embedded and imbued with Mother Earth. My attraction to the handmade object, whether functional or not springs from my love of nature, and in our industrial society playing with clay is as close to Mother Earth as it gets.
Along the way, I have offered my wares at various venues and events, and in December 2022, Mud Gallery was founded as home to my pottery with year-round access for people to find it, as well as a creative space for others to handcraft their own! I purposely call what I offer ‘playshops’ instead of ‘classes’ because I want to encourage play and experimentation with clay, rather than merely learning a skill.
For me the experience of playing with clay gets my creative juices going, and often what I think I am going to make at the start ends up going in a different direction, which I consider being in the flow. My pieces are mostly functional, meant to be used and enjoyed as part of one’s everyday lives. I am not concerned with whether a mug is not perfectly round, or a carving is not symmetrically employed. I have adopted a life-style philosophy of Wabi Sabi, the Japanese view of impermanence, or the Buddhist saying that we are perfectly imperfect. I am not trying to imitate a machine.