Winter of .... Every day, on my way to University, I walk by this little storefront--The Pot Shop--Classes available, all levels welcome. I have a distant memory from my childhood. I must have been about 5 or 6. I'm in the yard making plates and cups out of mud, believing with all my heart that they would dry and harden, and become a real toy tea-set. How do I want to play with mud again!

I start taking classes. Two things happen. I make a final decision to leave the graduate program I'm attending, and I discover that I absolutely love doing pottery. What's next? -- I do not leave a promising academic career to become a professional potter--I develop a new career in education and health promotion--but I also continue developing my skills in ceramics.

In the beginning, I mostly produce thick-walled and poorly shaped pots. To cover up these beginner's flaws and to make my work nonetheless attractive, I begin carving and painting the surfaces of the jars, cups, and bowls I make.

Soon enough, however, I develop a true and real love for surface decorating. I begin to explore decorative techniques and traditions, and work on integrating shape and surface. Can the pot itself dictate the style and motif of its outward facet? I'm still working on this, and in this site, you can see some of the solutions I have developed.

In recent years, I've been doing ceramics at the Hyde Park Art Center. I am very lucky to be living only about a block away. I am also very lucky because HPAC is generous with the studio time it allows it's members, and because there are many wonderful people in the Ceramics studio, who enjoy, just like I do, talking about ceramics and sharing ideas and techniques. Let me know if you want to come visit.

I hope you will visit my site occasionally to look at what's new in the gallery and blog. I'd love to answer your questions or have a dialogue about crafts, art, and creativity.

Thank you for reading, Orit