I create very personal, one of a kind ceramic work, with a focus on contour,
surface deign and negative space. I rarely use glaze, preferring the feel of the
naked skin of the clay. My goal is to create each piece with an energy that
reflection presents good elements of craftsmanship and inspires reflection.
I work with three clay bodies, “Night,” a smooth, black, porcelain-like clay, “Geo
Stone, a smooth, white clay that can withstand the thermal shock of raku firing
techniques, and Blue Dragon Fruit.
My degrees (BS, MA and and on DMA) are in clarinet performance and most of
my career has been in symphony orchestras, chamber music groups, solo
performances, and in the pit of Broadway (NY) shows.
While the clarinet has a beautiful voice and has taken me to some wonderful
places, creating ceramic vessels gives me a very different voice. I have become
hopelessly addicted to the feel of spinning mud, to the smell of wet mud, to all the
possibilities that mud holds. No one ever told me you could make music without making a sound. I will forever be a Mud Woman, telling stories that can’t be told through music.

-Deborah Pittman