The Artist And The Process
ABOUT THE ARTIST
MY JOURNEY
I have lived most of my life In North Carolina where I grew up. My family on both sides has roots in the state extending back several generations. I have been a full time studio potter now for more than 26 years; but getting there was somewhat accidental. As an Art History major at college in the St. Louis area I took a number of elective art courses. I was focused on drawing at first, but having taken all of the drawing courses that were offered, I decided to try pottery. I was immediately drawn to it, spending much of my free time in the clay studio, driven by my determination to develop the skills on the wheel needed to make a piece I could be proud of. Needless to say, that took a while.
In my early professional career I was focused on developing business skills, working primarily in business management. I never thought of becoming a potter; in my mind, that was just for fun. But one day, while living in St. Louis and working at Citibank as a Mortgage Loan Officer, a friend and I decided to go to a local craft show that was taking place just a couple of blocks away at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I was surprised by the quality of work we saw and realized just how much I missed having a creative outlet in my life. Although I hadn't touched clay in over six years, I was inspired and motivated to take up pottery again. Soon after I had joined a clay studio nearby that had all the equipment necessary and several other potters who were eager to help me get started again. I am eternally grateful for their help and encouragement, without which I would have struggled mightily. For the next year I would spend virtually all of my free time at the studio, often working late into the evening after work and on weekends. It was there that I began to really develop the notion of doing this for a living, but for the time being it was still just a hobby. However, I had to do something with all those pots I was making, so occasionally on Saturdays I would join one or two of the others in the studio to rent space at the local farmer's market just to try to unload all of the pots I was rapidly accumulating. I found that actually getting money for these things was really quite rewarding!
My big break as a potter came in 1994 as interest rates for mortgages shot up into the teens, Citibank was trying to downsize their workforce and was offering a severance package to those who would like to take the offer; so I jumped at the opportunity. I contacted some friends who I had known for years that had a pottery business in nearby Elsah, Illinois, called Crocker & Springer Stoneware, where they welcomed me on board. There my primary duty was as a production potter, making the forms on the wheel, trimming and adding handles; they would take it from there to add the decorations, glaze, and fire them. It was a great opportunity to really focus on developing my skill at throwing and finishing forms. I was still relatively new to it all and Jonathan Wright at Crocker & Springer was instrumental in helping me develop my skills as a potter.
I spent nearly a year there and after many years in the St Louis area I was missing home. I was also at the point where I was ready to jump out on my own and begin to develop my own style and line of work. I decided to return to what I always considered home in North Carolina where I was able to really hone my skills as a potter. There is a rich tradition of pottery in the area and I was able to take full advantage of it. Living in the Triangle area of NC, I landed a studio space at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor where I began to really develop my own style, while also working part-time in nearby Seagrove as a production potter. The high quality of work in the gallery at Cedar Creek was, and continues to be, a tremendous inspiration and resource for developing my own style. Pottery can seem so straight forward, but there is an incredible array of different options to choose from when developing your own way of working that all affect the finished product, and it is impossible to do it all. I worked from the studio at Cedar Creek for over four years before building my own studio and kiln and working from my home. Since then I have managed to continue working from a home studio despite moving several times. Currently I am blessed to live on beautiful Lake Gaston in Virginia with a studio overlooking the water, just a hundred yards or so north of the North Carolina border. While I am not technically a resident of NC now, I still consider it home.
These days I see my work as a continually evolving process of refinement, developing new ideas from those things that I encounter that really speak to me. Given the amazing variety of shape, color, materials, techniques, and other variables that are available to the studio potter, it is inevitable that my work is a synthesis of multiple influences melded together to express something unique. The results are a reflection of the specific choices I have made along the way. From the use of porcelain as my primary medium, to ash glazes inspired by my work with wood firing and it's connection to the origins of glaze development, my work is heavily influenced by my own experiences and surroundings. Ultimately, all that I could ever hope for is that you will enjoy owning and using my pottery as much as I love making it!
-Geoffrey Lloyd
* Select "The Production Process" from the menu above to learn more details about how it's made.
