Steve is from Western Virginia, his studio is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He began a Stained Glass Studio in the old Roanoke Downtown Market in 1980, ‘Studio 103’ where he made stained glass windows for residential and commercial applications. He moved to Richmond to manage a claims operation for a large Insurance Company and stayed there till 1997 then moved back to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Steve worked on his ceramic art as a hobby until the spring of 2007 when he took early retirement and focused on pottery full-time. Since then his work has been shown in Museums and Galleries in North Carolina and Virginia where his work has won several awards including ‘Best Raku Form’ at the Mid-Atlantic Clay Conference in 2007. Steve is on the teaching staff of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts and is a member of the Blue Ridge Potter’s Guild and the only Potter in the “Open Studio Tour” Artist group.
About the Potter
My early work was an attempt at perfection. I wanted my vases to look like they had been turned on a lath. The glazes had to be perfect, both in finish and application. Oddly, the pots I was drawn to at exhibits were just the opposite; organic, fluid, irregular in form and finish, that's where I'm headed
This pot is a cashua or wine spittoon. It is used in winery tasting rooms. This one was modeled after one made by Mark Oliviet's great-grandfather who was a pottier in the Liore Valley, France. Mark is a 6th genration organic wine maker there. Standing in a stone and chestnut wine tasting room built in the 15th century, Mark says "it's a shame the only spittoon you can find is of plastic and stainless".
I make these from stoneware and fire them to cone 12 with shino and ash glazes, then the kiln is salted at 2360 degrees adding a warm blush to the unglazed protions.
Cashua - 13" X 7" Ash and salt glazed
This is one of 2 chambers the woodfired kiln.The ware inside has been fired to cone 12. The soft brick door has been partially removed revealing pots inside. This chamber is 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.The entire kiln holds about 350 functional sized pot or about 80 large vases like these mixed with some small pots that fill in the holes. Loading,firing, cooling and unloading takes about 2 weeks and burns about 3 cords of wood which I cut & split.
