Artist: Diane Pecnik, Master Craftsman

Craft Medium:  Clay, Mixed Media Artist's Statement: I work with clay in many ways using a variety of techniques and firing types. My pieces generally begin on the wheel as a whole or in parts. Though I have no particular favorite, I do find the immediacy of the raku process, and its hauntingly beautiful surfaces, greatly alluring. Clay, like man, is molded both from within and from without. A form’s beauty is tempered by its inner strength, while its character is determined by the texture and shaping imprinted by forces acting upon it. Clay, more than any other medium, is the very stuff of creation. It lives as the artist works it. It responds in kind to touch. Its poignant gesture suggest attitudes universally human. As I work, I believe that both the object and I are altered as the process of working creatively flows in a volley of thought-touch/touch-thought. The object, while being created, instructs, enlightens, and delights its creator . . . it is essentially creation observing itself. It is often difficult to determine when this process ends . . . or if, in fact, it does.