Sarah Pike
Fernie, British Columbia, Canada
Biography
Sarah Pike is a full-time ceramic artist living and making functional slab-built pots in Fernie, BC, Canada. She studied ceramics at Alberta College of Art and Design, University of Colorado, and the University of Minnesota and is a member of the Canadian ceramic collective, Make & Do. Sarah is obsessed with textured clay and hand building techniques. If she isn’t making pots, she is probably out exploring the mountains around her home and spending time with her family.
Artist Statement
I enjoy pottery that conveys personality and a quiet attitude. My focus is on form and texture, oscillating between rustic and minimal, complicated and calm, intuitive and deliberate, order and disorder. Not a steady balance, more like a teetering in-between.
Lines demarcate seams, like a drawing. Nature-inspired textures are like soft slab fabrics, cut and altered to create shape and form. My pots are slightly anthropomorphic in nature and imbued with static animation: A quality that evokes the plastic nature of clay in its raw form but also the movement associated with the finished pot’s intended use. It reflects our beauty and awkward imperfections; imperfections that celebrate the handmade object over mass-produced, industrial ware.
My pottery is inspired by many things, including the landscape around my home, the rich history of pottery, but also by antique tinware, textured metal, and the old things you might find in barns.
