Sylvia Coppola

In the mid seventies, while in college at Western Carolina University, I took my first pottery class. I continued with clay classes and enjoyed it so much that I decided to concentrate in pottery with a second concentration in jewelry. I graduated with a BFA degree, bought a wheel and kiln of my own and continued to make pots.
Since beginning in clay, my work has changed dramatically. I started off in college with reduction firing in a gas kiln, carving designs on pots and using oriental brush strokes. Then I moved on to mid range firing in an electric kiln. Early on, I did a lot of layering of glazes and experimenting with the results of one glaze over another. Then I went on to do a lot of hand painting with underglazes. I painted a lot of irises, and other flowered motifs. After several years of this I moved on to carving bands of lines, fish, or rabbits on my pottery.
In April of 2004, I purchased a gas kiln made by Larry Fincannon of Sure Fire Mfg. I am once again firing reduction cone 10 firings. I have changed my glazes. My forms are mostly thrown but I also make hand built pieces. After I make a pot on the wheel, I often alter the form to create a more interesting piece. Then after it dries to almost leather hard, I use different tools to carve into the clay and add textures to the outside of the pot. Textures have always been of interest to me, which may partially be related to my past work as a weaver and basket maker. My current approach to making pottery is to emphasize handles and feet on the pots and how they relate to the form. The use of handles and feet create a totally different mood for the piece.
In addition to the many hours I spend making pottery, I also teach workshops several times a year. Hand building, making tea pots and pitchers, throwing and altering, marketing your art work, and basic glaze mixing, are some of the topics taught at the workshops.