Michael Hughes, Ceramics, March 6

My first interest in pottery was in the Leach/ Hamada tradition learned from my instructor who had been a Leach apprentice. I continued making functional pottery in graduate school. In 1990, I received a MFA from The School of American Craftsmen at The Rochester Institute of Technology.

Modern and Elegant Design
Later I became interested in modern design and architecture and began to incorporate some of those ideas into my work. Clean lines, bold forms and emphasis on material and process rather than applied decoration became my focus. Overall, my work is very minimal with a quiet, subtle character.

Contemporary Vessels for the Interior
made with Traditional Craftsmanship
The formal aspects of my work I focus on are proportion, lighting and the balance of opposites. Even within very simple forms, there are several elements that have to be proportioned correctly such as height to width, top to bottom rims, thickness of rim and radius of edges and in textured pieces, width of line and space between lines. All these elements have to work together to feel right. The proportion of pieces in a group is another consideration.

Light is also of particular interest to me. The white and textured surface react to changes in lighting- direction, natural or artificial, shadows. I often notice the changes throughout the day as I walk by. The sun brings out the translucency or the hall light catches the texture, a cup moves from one place to another. This change in appearance led to do some asymmetric work. Along with the lighting, the pieces change with the point of view.

All porcelain tableware can be used in the dishwasher and in the microwave. The white porcelain will not stain with food.