David Gary Wright

David Gary Wright in High School, 1976

About making pots

The challenge and pleasure of creating handmade pottery is what keeps me coming back to the potter’s wheel. I learned the skill of wheel throwing in high school and I have been throwing for thirty-three years now - a long time.

All of the work that I make is handmade. Though some “tools” are used in the process, the main tools that form these pots are my hands, my head, and my heart. The tranquil spinning of the potter’s wheel and the hand forming of useful vessels is an experience that I find both engaging and relevant, particularly in our culture of high tech, industrially made, throw away products.

It is my intention that people use the pots that I make for which ever creative and useful purpose they can imagine: be it a pitcher to pour coffee, a mug to hold pencils or a teapot to water the flowers. Ultimately, people find, use, and enjoy things that bring meaning and usefulness to their lives. As my pots are handmade, each of the pots, though similar, is never actually the same - like people. I believe the exceptional character found in handmade things offer the opportunity for people to discover and appreciate for themselves the “humanity” in those unique and spirited objects that are created by artisans. I believe every person can search through the body of my work and find at least one “special” pot that they connect with and that feels right to them.

Artist Statement

        “My pottery is functional and intended to be used. I have tried to resolve the requirements of usage, while creating a personal form vocabulary that expresses my interest in organic form, ancient weaponry, aquatic life, animals, Eros, invention, and ceramic history. Although the inspiration for my pottery comes from a variety of sources, they are abstracted and rarely literal.

My pots are often inventive and mysterious, and require the user to investigate, discover, and recognize their potential for use in the home. This "adventure" is intended to help broaden the users mind regarding the possibilities of pottery form, while questioning the perceptions of utilitarian objects and the traditions they are built upon. By exaggerating, minimizing and reorganizing specific pottery elements such as body, handle, and spout, the pots become visually and aesthetically powerful within a personal scale and context.

Much of my pottery is high temperature salt-fired and/or low-fire salt fired, however, I enjoy experimenting with many different firing techniques and temperatures. I often use red or beige colored clays that are fired in an oxidation atmosphere. More recently, I have preferred to search out and dig my own local New Jersey clays -- longing to sense a deeper connection to my pottery and my environment.

The most constant thought that affects my work is a never-ending amazement at nature's adaptability and interdependence. Although not usually recognizable and admittedly lofty, through my work, it is my hope to remind people that pots, like humans, are created in a variety of individual shapes, sizes, colors, and cultures. Like so many other living creatures that inhabit this world, perhaps as humans, we can learn to adapt, survive and FUNCTION in this world in harmony as well.”

David G. Wright

About David Gary Wright

David Gary Wright has had a fascination with clay since he was 12 years old, after stumbling upon his junior high school art teacher, Tom Ullom, making a teapot in the art room. Strongly supported by Tom Ullom and Amelita Daly (his high school art teacher), David went on to college to study ceramics.

David received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1981 studying with Wayne Bates, Mark Burns, Bill Daley, Helen Drutt, Rob Forbes, Rudy Staffel and Petras Vaskys. David received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1988 where he studied under Scott Chamberlin, Tom Potter, Andy Martin and Betty Woodman.

David Wright is a three-time recipient of New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship - 1998, 1990, 1986 and a 2005 recipient of a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Artist/Teacher Fellowship. David has been featured in American Craft, Ceramic Review, and Studio Potter magazines, and has also written several articles for Ceramics Monthly magazine. His pottery is also featured in a ceramic text called The Spirit of Clay, by Robert Piepenburg, as well as, Studio Practices, Techniques and Tips and Exploring Electric Kiln Techniques.

David's one-of-a-kind work has been included in many national and international exhibitions. His wheelthrown and handbuilt functional pottery have been called "inventive, humorous, and provocative."  David keeps a busy schedule of full-time teaching and making pottery. David offers workshops on pottery making year-round throughout the country.