Steve Frazier is a ceramic artist/potter producing primarily wheel-thrown hand-made pottery and firing in a wood-burning kiln. Enamored with clay's tactile allure since his first encounter during undergraduate school, Steve pursued his Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Sculpture from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he focused on work in outdoor ceramic sculpture and wood fire pottery.
Taken with the overall process of making, trimming, prepping, and submitting work to the fire, Steve has continued to delve into the entire ceramic process throughout his artistic career.
The Process
Captivated by the process of firing pottery in a wood-burning kiln and the unknown when giving your work to the kiln, Steve understands the arduous nature of fire, wood, and ceramics; however, the results of yielding unique surfaces through the interplay of burning wood ash and clay have been very satisfying and rewarding throughout the years.
While savoring the challenges of extended wood firings, he equally enjoys the immediacy of earthenware and its unique ability to record your touch with the slightest contact.
His pursuit of understanding, incorporating and discovering different methods fuels his love for the process and exploration of form and surface in ceramics.
“Through my working life as an artist, I have been influenced by the work of those gone before us, and I continue to be amazed by the working expressions of artists today. The human spirit is seemingly inexhaustible. I have always been motivated by “process”, the day to day working with any given material. Whether drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, or ceramics, the processes help to formulate my ideas for expression. My design and form choices are fed by the process of “making”. The form elements of the ceramic vessel, for me, have provided an endless context for exploring visual form and surface. Pursuing the ceramic mediums’ inherent relationship of form and surface provides [an] endless store of artistic expression.” - Steve Frazier