Info

6 South Centre Street
Pottsville, Pennsylvania 17901
(570) 622-2940
pottsvillepotter@gmail.com

Hours

Call for summer hours.

No beginner classes until after the holidays!

Shows

The Mad Potter is busy producing pottery for the following shows:

• Home and Planet
  First Friday, December 2
  Bethlehem, PA
  
• Christkindlmarkt
  Saturday, December 3
  Pottsville, PA
  
• Greystone Art Show
  Sunday, December 11
  Pottsville, PA
  

Copyright 2010 The Mad Potter
Site developed and maintained by Mother Chaos Studios

Bio

Mary Byrne is a ceramicist who opened the doors of The Mad Potter in October, 2004. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts, where she majored in Art History and minored in Photography. She interned in Art Therapy at the Fernald State School, Waltham, Massachusetts. Mary continued her studies at the Sawtooth Center for the Visual Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, taking courses and workshops in pottery, hand building and wheel throwing. She continues to attend workshops at The Canton Clayworks, Canton, Connecticut specializing in primitive firing techniques under the discipline of Tim Scull, Master Potter. Her passion for pottery flourished while living and traveling throughout the United States as well as Puerto Rico, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Mary offers workshops in wheel throwing, from beginner to advanced techniques.

Artist Statement

There is an enigmatic relationship between form, fire and clay. The primitive method of sawdust is used to fire my pottery. The pieces are marked by the open fire. Burnished pots emit the visual effect of warmth. The touch gives the immediate contact to the fire and the clay without the barrier of glaze. Rich, carbon patterns are transferred to my pieces from organic materials. The carbon produced during the burning of the sawdust along with the crackling of the slurry saggar surrounding the pots produce a naked raku effect giving the pots the brown, black and grey shadows, softening their visual appearance. The thrill of the open fire outweighs the inherent risks in the simplicity of this firing process. Although these pots are sealed to hold liquid, they are never food safe.