1st Ceramists

Lauryn Axelrod

USA
DETAIL

Ceramic Artist -Three Trees Pottery, West Pawlet, VT USA

Three Trees Pottery / www.threetreespottery.com.
 

I came to clay through Japanese Tea Ceremony. I was studying Chado, and fell in love with the chawan. For me, the bowl was the quintessential metaphor for the human vessel: perfect in its imperfection; precious, yet ordinary; and containing the entire cosmos in its emptiness. 

I set out to make my own tea bowls by asking the question “If we are containers for the best and worst qualities of humanity, what would a bowl of compassion look like?” I realized it would take me the rest of my life to discover that…if at all.