At his Carbondale studio filled with ceramics, artist Alleghany Meadows makes utilitarian items inspired by the natural world.
Sets of dishes nest together in the shape of a flower, while the ridges of mugs and bowls evoke the walls of a deep river canyon.
“I continue to dive deeper and deeper into detail,” Meadows said. “And now, there's a sort of internal contemplation that is happening. … I think that evolution is a bit of a metaphor for where I am in life as well, (as I am) taking time in nature.”
Meadows has spent the better part of 35 years honing his craft.
And this weekend, Meadows he’ll lead a “Masterclass” workshop at the Carbondale Clay Center, titled “Utilitarian Pottery: Connection and Communication.”
He’s also working on plates for a “Clay and Moonlight” event the clay center is hosting at Spring Creeks Ranch later this summer. The program will feature food by local chef Mark Fisher, presented on dishes by renowned ceramicists.
In this audio postcard, Meadows speaks about his philosophy on functional pottery and the act of contemplation in his work. You can read a transcript below, or hear the audio using the “Listen” button above.
I think there's an authorship to making work that I want to encourage people to dive into.Alleghany Meadows
Alleghany Meadows: For me, art of any kind is a way of communicating somebody's values and ideals, somebody's view of the world, whether it's a painting or a poem, or in my case, a cup.
Cups, to me, are the most intimate of the forms that I work with. The user or the viewer will often hold that up to their lips, which is an incredible way to experience a piece of art.
And that relationship that builds with artwork, when it's experienced in somebody's home, is different than the relationship that is formed through an artwork that is visited once or twice in a museum or in a gallery. It's a more intimate level, and it’s a more sensual or sensory level through the sight, the sound, the smell, taste and touch of the work.
I think my advice to students coming into the workshop would be to approach it with an open mind, and maybe consider that the pieces that you're making are very akin to a book.
Approaching a cup in that way allows us to put many, many layers of our own selves, as makers into it. And what someone receives from that, or understands from that when they're experiencing the cup, they bring all of their own layers to it. I think there's an authorship to making work that I want to encourage people to dive into.
I recently reread “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” And it's funny, because the first time I read it, when I was about 19, I was thinking all about the craft of making things and the involvement of sort of losing myself in that making process. And this time, when I read it, I had a very different experience, and I realized that it was more about this sort of psychological middle-aged finding of oneself and these different conversations that go on in our minds.
For myself on the wheel, there are tens of thousands of hours that I've spent making pottery. And there are some times where I'm incredibly present, and it can feel like a meditation, and there are other times where there are responsibilities. And I'm thinking about all kinds of other types of things.
It sort of reflects what I put in. And where I am, when I come to the process, is reflected back towards me. Sometimes it feels like a job, usually I love my work. Sometimes it’s a challenge. It’s kind of all of that.
