Durango Potters:
Past & Present

On display in the CCC Gallery
November 7th - 28th, 2020

Curator Lorna Meaden

Participating Artists
Lorna Meaden
Scott Roberts
Lisa Pedolsky
Trevor Dunn
Logan Wannamaker
Adam Field

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

From the Curator, Lorna Meaden, “I have lived in Durango, off and on, since 1991. In those years, I have had the opportunity to work with multiple potters whose work I have admired and learned from. Some of those colleagues have moved on, and other continue to reside in the area. This show is a selection of the makers whom I have crossed paths with in Durango over almost thirty years.

Scott Roberts has played an important role in my development as a potter. I have known Scott since I attended a workshop with Svend Bayer that he and his wife Kay put on in the mid-90s. Scott and Kay later taught me to build kilns, worked at the Clay Center I started, and became family to me. I have always appreciated Scott’s work for its simple, straightforward sensibility. As I have grown to be a potter who uses decoration in my own work, I greatly admire his skill with the brush.

Lisa Pedolsky’s work is compelling in its unique voice. Her work gracefully walks a line between functional pottery, the vessel, and sculpture. Lisa’s work stands firmly in the ceramics world while not being of average pedigree. Her work has a strong sense of design referencing furniture and textiles. Lisa is currently a full-time studio artist in Durango.

Trevor Dunn and I have been friends since the early 1990s. I helped him build his first wood kiln and he helped me build and fire my first kiln. Trevor’s lasting friendship means so much to me. We have fired many wood kilns together, watched each other go through graduate school, and grow into our careers. It has been so exciting to see Trevor move from simple functional potter to sculptor and professor. Trevor’s work shows his love for process, materials, and craftsmanship. It is stoic and massive while also feeling soft and inviting. Trevor is currently a professor of ceramics at University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Logan Wannamaker grew up in Durango while I was a young potter having just moved to town. It took many years for me to finally meet Logan, but once I did, I have been following his work and calling him a friend ever since. Logan has a well-established studio in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico where he makes wood and salt fired pots and sculpture, along with functional tableware. To see what Logan has created for himself is impressive to say the least. His work is varied with a strong common thread that connects it. It is basically functional but decorative through atmospheric processes.

Adam Field, like myself, graduated from Fort Lewis College. We are both students (at different times) of the late David Hunt. Adam returned to Durango for several years allowing us to work together. During that time, Adam helped me build and fire my soda kiln. Adam’s work is systematic in its refined beauty. In addition to making pots, Adam makes Korean Onggi jars referencing history, tradition and utility. Adam moved on to do a residency at Archie Bray Foundation and then established a pottery in Helena, Montana.

One of the things I appreciate about living in a place for a long time is the irreplaceable sense of history. The small, solid group of potters that has overlapped over the past thirty years in Durango has been an invaluable community to be a part of. It is an honor to have the opportunity to put together an exhibition of work from these makers. As someone who has lived in Colorado for many years, and spent time in the Roaring Fork Valley, it was my pleasure to curate a show for the Carbondale Clay Center.”