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Mary Ann Leigh

C   E   R   A   M   I   C   S

bio

 

What happens when you get to a point in your life where you can move to Maui to kick back? Well, if you’ve worked at something or another since you were twelve that becomes a tall order. Purpose driven people need purpose. Fortunately, even early in life, my professional choices always were avocations instead of vocations. That makes for happy and productive. If career choices over the years ranged from librarian, teacher of language arts gifted students, antique store owner and restorer, restaurant owner and chef, nursery owner and garden designer – what’s left?

 

Ceramics? Why? Having studied pottery in college, I often recalled thinking about finding the time and place to learn more. Aloha, Maui! With all of the art opportunities, wonderful classes, and fantastic teachers available, how could hard work and dedication not lead to progress? It has been a rapid ascent coming from behind the learning curve to having a home-studio gallery on Maui and having my art sold in galleries and shown in juried shows. Creative exploration brings tremendous joy!

 

My artistic statement:

 

I see something magical in the world and wonder how to translate the concept into a ceramic work. Inspiration is found in the curve of a leaf, an ocean with attitude, a posturing bird, the flounce of petals, the precariousness of rock outcrops, a smirk on a face, children at play. Often the struggle to create is just that. The more complicated and quirky the idea, the more gravity defying, the more complex the techniques to be mastered, the more engineering, the more re-engineering, the making of glazes, the tinkering with those glazes, and especially, the more puzzling the process, the more I delight in the finished product that results when planning, will, luck, determination, and serendipity all come together. When that kiln door is opened, sometimes, and really only sometimes, there is magic. Enjoy!

 

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