MARILEE HALL

My vessels and wall constructions are about unity, and how from disparate, contrasting elements spring life, growth and integration. I enjoy hand building, using white earthenware slabs, coils and extrusions to create forms. Contrasting textures are exceedingly important to me, as is combining and layering of polychrome underglazes and glazes to deepen surfaces. Of great interest to me are my sculpted and carved fetish forms, referring to the life-giving forces at work outside my window and inside myself. They are used as the focal point of some work, and as spirited additions and appendages in other pieces. The clay vessel itself has such history, moving, with mankind onward from the nomadic life to food-storing, community-building, and personal expression. Even at its most idiosyncratic, ceramic work continues to be fed by its long roots. I revel in the nourishment clay provides.