Art Show: Ned Motley

Reception Sunday at 4PM

NED MOTLEY Artist Statement: 

I’ve been a lifelong Small Pointer and currently live year round in nearby North Yarmouth. In 2012  I transformed a garden shed on my rural property into a cramped but very cozy and practical studio. I’ve been making functional pottery since high school but started pursuing it as a career in 2003. In ‘05 I graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a BFA, specializing in Craft. I’m inspired and influenced so much by the images and patterns of the natural world that surrounds me. And to me, there is no other abstract artist who compares to our Mother Nature. I love the control and predictably of throwing symmetrical pottery on a wheel, and then I get to be more spontaneous and chaotic in my glazing technique. Sort of a reflection of what’s really going on inside my brain!

Nedware Pottery has taken so many forms over the years, yet it has consistently remained easily identifiable and very functional. I am mostly drawn to function and purpose in my work partly because I find it very grounding when much of my life feels fluid and unpredictable, but also—I will confess—it can be so challenging and intimidating to venture out into the unknown of form for the sake of form rather than what it can do or be. I’ve had this good thing going and I like it’s predictability and popularity. I do aspire toward exploration and pushing the edge. I also like whimsy and silliness! Yet so often before a show I feel “under the gun” and find the familiar shapes and glazes an easy groove to slide back into. I write this almost 2 months before the actual show date. Will I have the time and motivation to diversify? Stay tuned