Ruth Easterbrook

Ruth Easterbrook is an artist based out of Philadelphia. She earned her MFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her BFA from Syracuse University. She has shown her work across the United States, including at Market House Craft Center (Lancaster, PA; 2020), Charlie Cummings Gallery (Gainesville, FL; 2020), and Red Lodge Clay Center (Red Lodge, MT; 2019). She has held residencies at the Harvard Ceramics Program, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and was honored as an Emerging Artist by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in 2020.

Artist Statement:

 I make pottery as an active participant in the coming together of people, and the pleasures of food. Sharing a beautifully prepared meal creates a celebration. I make pieces of service and I make interaction. Decisions in design facilitate containing, presenting, and serving in the daily lives of others.

My detailed surfaces enhance the importance of a moment—attentive handling that leads to discovery and pleasure. The floral motifs are inspired by wildflowers and gardening, mixing the scientific with the stylized responding to the form of the pot.

 

My forms embody generosity and communicate utility that welcomes interaction. Using a palette of glazes from matte to glossy I map out the decoration to collaborate with the movement of the glaze as they flux and stretch across the pot’s surface. My decorations become fluid as they melt in the heat shifting and stretching to the form and its multiple planes. I welcome distortion and embrace the power of the heat as it transforms wet earth into rock and ground materials into a subtle range of glazes.

Ruth Easterbrook's work is available at Gandee Gallery.