LORNA MEADEN
BIOGRAPHY
Lorna Meaden has lived in Durango, Colorado on and off for almost 30 years. Having originally moved there from the Chicago suburbs to go to Fort Lewis College, she has had many adventures in the local art scene along with intermittent moves to other places seeking education, artist residencies, and as much international travel as possible.
After receiving a BA from Fort Lewis College in 1994, and an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University in 2005, she completed artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She has been visiting faculty at San Juan College in Farmington, NM, Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, and Fort Lewis College in Durango. Some of what she considers her most fulfilling work has been teaching and learning abroad including time spent in Jamaica, Nicaragua, Nepal, Italy, and most recently, Bali, Indonesia. Lorna is currently a full-time studio potter, teaching and showing her work extensively.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is soda fired porcelain. It begins with the consideration of function, and the goal is for the form and surface of the pots to be integrated. Making the work starts with a three-dimensional division of space, continues with drawing on the surface, and finishes with the addition of color.
New ideas are gradually incorporated into previous bodies of work through making. Source information for my pots can be motivated by something as simple as looking at the patterns in the stacked bricks of my kiln to something as complex as the forms in 18th century European manufactured silver.
I experience the evolution of my work through creative repetition in the studio. I am interested in having my work display both practical and extravagant attributes. I am drawn to work that is rich in ornamentation, with lavish use of materials- both scarce in a culture of mass production.
Functional pottery, in its connection to sustenance, closely relates to the human body, revealing what it means to be human. Handmade pots are potent in their power to reveal the extraordinary, within the ordinary. I am driven by the insatiable pursuit of the “good pot”. Successful in terms of tactile, visual, and functional attributes; lastingly significant when packed with the passion of the maker- reflecting humanity, and contributing to the craft.
Pitcher
