David Voorhees
NC Mountains Pre-Conference Artist
Drawing on a childhood joy of making almost anything with my hands, I knew clay to be my calling the first time I touched it on a turning pot- ter’s wheel. My pots evolved slowly as I earned my skills, being mostly self-taught. I soon added a painter’s touch, my other love and the legacy of my parents, both professional artists.
The introduction to porcelain provided a key element in the develop- ment of much of my work; a marriage of classically simple wheel formed and slab constructed forms, subtle but colorful brush decorations and high firing to a luminous finish known only to porcelain.
My recent interest in wood-firing pottery has resulted in designing and building a wood-fired soda-glazing kiln at my Tuxedo studio in 2009. Constructed as a car kiln, it is one of the first wood-firing kilns of its design. Current work includes stoneware again after years away from it, learning anew to guide forms and glazing to respond to the fire’s touch.
