Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Pumphouse Studios: Ceramics




Pumphouse Studios is a lovely store of Julia, a ceramic artist living in beautiful Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon. Julia was a literature student when she inherited her mother's wheel, kiln, and a series of mysterious glaze recipes. This was a new beginning of her life as a clay artist. She started to work in her studio which was only 6X6 foot pumphouse where she spent every spare moment she had making pots and competing with the pump and waterlines for space. (I guess that's where the store got its name.)




Her colorful bowls, plates and tiles are all hand made and carved from her own drawing and patterns, often of birds and owls. The artist says :"Birds represent so many things!... I think they are the vital heartbeat in the background that you don't notice right away...Like the barn owls, who spread out their wings and seem so silent and holy."


The shown above are few of my favorite Barn owl bowls available in three beautiful colors - yellow, white and green. How adorable is that "matryoshka cuddling the owl" dish!