Glynnis Lessing
My pieces are created with the hope that it will find an intimate niche in the daily lives of people who own them. These pieces are designed to be pleasing to look at, balanced for use, scaled to the hand and satisfying employ daily.
I make my work using Grolleg Porcelain. Most of the work is thrown on a wheel. After it is leather hard, it is finished with trimming and handles. I decorate the pots with black slip and carve a narrative image. I work freehand so that no two designs are ever exactly alike. I often apply some colored underglazes for added color. The pots are clear-glazed and high-fired to cone 10.
The surface decoration is a reflection of my love of the natural world and the belief in the restorative power of being outside. It is my desire to share the pleasure I take in noticing my environment: patterns of leaves, how a bird perches on a reed, the silhouettes of trees just after sundown.
I began a lifelong love of ceramics at 9 when I learned to throw from a Japanese potter at Carleton College. I made pots in high school and apprenticed to a potter and went on to study art at Macalester and the University of Minnesota where I earned a BFA.
Directly after college, a move to Chicago led me to Lill Street studios where I began working & teaching pottery there as well as at several other institutions.
In 2012, I moved back to Minnesota where I began teaching and continue to work full time as a potter. My work and studio were recently featured in the 2023 December issue of Ceramics Monthly.
