Allison Severance

BIOGRAPHY

Allison grew up on a farm in rural Howard County, Maryland, U.S.A. and received an Associates’ Degree in Art from Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. She studied Painting and Printmaking and Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and received a BA in Art from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Pottery experience includes an apprenticeship with Bill vanGilder in Gapland, Maryland and John Thies in Frederick, Maryland. She was also the assistant Director of the Ceramics Program at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland.  

Allison established her first pottery and built her first single chamber caftenary arch wood kiln in Boonsboro, Maryland. In 2012 she relocated to Cascade, Maryland where she makes pots and fires in her bourry box wood and salt kiln. Currently, she teaches at the Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia, hosts wood firing workshops at her pottery and  presents workshops at national clay facilities.  

Her pots have been included in numerous national and international exhibitions, including Salt Glazed Ceramics in Germany, and the Orton Cone Box Show and the Strictly Functional Show here in the states. Allison has been included in numerous publications, including Clay Times Magazine, Ceramics Monthly, the Log Book International Wood Fire Magazine and Salzbrand Keramics 2004.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a wood-fire salt glaze potter. I make pots for people to use. 
My pots are thrown on my old kick wheel or hand built from slabs of clay and fired in the bourry box kiln that I built. I strive to make well crafted, substantial, engaging and useful pots – pots that are honest and sincere. My pots are created to have a job, whether in our kitchens or in our gardens. My wood-fired salt glazed pots are created to be used and held in the hands and hopefully bring comfort– whether a generous bowl for enjoying morning oatmeal or a kitchen bucket or bucket colander for gathering greens or cherry tomatoes from the garden and rinsing them in the sink – on a daily basis. It is my wish that my useful pots enhance and add a quiet and peaceful pleasure to the daily rituals of preparing, serving, sharing and enjoying food.  

Website: www.allisonseverancepottery.com
Instagram : @allisonseverancepottery