Mark Hewitt

Artist Statement:

In a perfect world all would be beautiful and harmonious. Alas we do not live in that world. My pots are an attempt to move the earth a little closer to heaven.

Using practices gleaned from global folk pottery traditions I use local clays and glaze materials wherever possible to honor the landscape in which I live while acknowledging the labors of my predecessors here in North Carolina.

They are landscape portraits, tangible expressions of the geologic and socioeconomic history of my place.

They are also a summary of my inspirations and confusions, a humane record of a life making pots, self-portraits made to create a human connection with the user. They are love offerings, usable poems, inspiring songs.

Pick up a mug as if it was a person, embrace it, acknowledge its purposefulness and vulnerability. Form a relationship with it.

Read its individual complexity, find out its long story – where it is from, where it is now, where it is going.

Enjoy its expression, get used to it, acknowledge its brilliance, treat it kindly.

Each time I make a pot, each time I meet a human being, I am impelled to do it better.

Learn more on Mark’s website
Watch Mark on Craft in America