Michael Swierz

These ceramic objects are made of hand-gathered clays, rocks and minerals, plant matter and animal bones, seashells and eggshells, brought to life through milling, mixing, forming, and fire. 

What a balm to know these materials may be found everywhere around us, wherever we go. Working with them is a manner of intimacy with the world: participation in the magical agreements between elements and atoms, between subterranean minerals and aboveground flora and fauna. 

The clay bodies that make up these objects include locally dug Illinois high-fire stoneware clay, loess from the root ball of windthrown, old-growth trees overlooking the Mississippi River, clay formations of every color in the rainbow, mica-rich clays, and Grolleg porcelain. 

Glaze materials include local Illinois limestone and dolomite, pegmatite from abandoned granite mines, oyster- and clamshells, Midwestern prairie plants, so-called invasive species, river rocks, alluvium, and historical ceramic ingredients. 

Clay, when fired, sings. Earth cares for us, and we can care back. How nice that a simple bowl steaming with the morning’s breakfast, or a cup of tea before bedtime, can remind us of this beautiful reality, any given morning or night.