Jonathan Walburg
Jonathan Walburg of Lake Superior Pottery uses many locally sourced materials to make pottery with a look, feel and story distinct to the Greatest Lake. It is porcelain with Lake Superior’s rocks, sands, clays and wood-ash glazes creating food-safe pottery made from simple ingredients. A little piece of the BIG Lake. A flavor of the area. My pottery is about the story and the sense of place. It’s about loving an area and turning it into something you can use and enjoy everyday.
The techniques and methods are influenced by my apprenticeship at the St. John’s Pottery in Minnesota (2004-06) under Richard Bresnahan, studies in Karatsu, Japan (2006-10) and in Ulsan, Korea (2010). During these travels, I was able to visit historic and culturally treasured areas famous for their pottery. Each region is aesthetically distinct from each other as geology changes; creating unique pottery specific to that area. With the pottery I purchased there, I felt I was bringing home a piece of that place. It was this idea I loved and wanted to share in my own pottery: the idea of loving a place and being able to take it home with you.
