About the Peace Pots

The Making of the Peace Pot

During the winter of 2003 I decided to create a work that would speak of the relationship between inner peace and global peace. When the idea for a Peace Pot first came to mind, I was very clear that I wanted to use an image of a dove.

Bird imagery has been a constant motif in my art due in large part to my lifelong exposure to Maine’s amazing wildlife landscape. So the use of a dove image was a natural evolution in my work. I wanted to use a white stoneware clay, to reference the color of a dove.

I started out looking at many images of doves and did lots of drawings, compiling different features that I liked. Then I made a paper template and traced it onto the leather hard wall of a pot. I knew that I wanted a line drawing of the dove, not just the whole dove. Of course, this decision made the carving much more difficult, as it meant carving delicate lines, then cleaning out the clay crumbs, working alternately inside and out, a fairly labor intensive process. Yet ultimately rewarding!

At first it took over an hour to carve two doves on a pot, but gradually I got the time down to 45 minutes. When the pots began to sell, I realized that I needed to spend more time on marketing them, so I decided to get some help with the throwing and carving process.

I have a strong belief in supporting art students, and have been very fortunate to have the assistance of several young women who are ceramics majors at nearby Maine College of Art. I have benefited from their energy and ideas. And I like to think they have benefited from the experience of working in a professional clay studio with an old crone like me. Reciprocal altruism!

Some Surprises

It is often said in the ceramics world that clay has a mind of its own. The Peace Pot has been testimony to that statement. It was always my intention to use lighting in these pots as a metaphor to express how the light of peace and hope can be lit within us. It was a total surprise when, by chance, I placed a lighted pot near a wall and saw a breathtaking luminous image of the dove cast onto that wall. It was obvious that the pot had more to say about peace.

Another lovely surprise is the response I have received concerning these simple little pots. I often have a blind spot about the impact of my work. So it has been encouraging to hear how much they are being enjoyed. One woman, a minister, wanted to buy several to use as an altar arrangement. Another woman, a Montessori teacher, is using a Peace Pot as part of a little daily classroom ritual when the children share stories about what they have done to create peace in their lives.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the making of these Peace Pots has continued to sustain and nourish me, I mean, I never thought of myself as a "production" potter. But here I am, producing hundreds of pots. Yet the nice thing about throwing pots on a wheel is that each one is a little bit different. Each one has a personality and life of its own. And so I continue…