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Welcome to Heather Bradley Contemporary Ceramics |
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Heather Bradley
Artist's Statement
 The moment I began to paint on my clay, I began to find my voice as an artist. The potter’s wheel gives me the opportunity to use my body to create forms, to get my hands dirty, to push and pull and get physical with my work. Carving allows me to cut patterns and drawings into the clay, making a permanent mark that I can then stain black. The final step, painting, brings my work to life. The colors of the piece create its essence, reflecting my mood and my own sense of harmony and balance.
I am inspired by Buddhist stupas, Gothic cathedrals, patterns on mosque walls, Appalachian quilts, Mexican folk art, Indian tapestries, and stained glass - art from around the world. I am inspired by work that is full of detail, pattern, color, and soul. I am inspired by the hours of solitary, meditative labor involved in creating work that stirs us with its beauty, intricacy, ingenuity and connection to the natural world.
 I admire the artists from the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970’s. It honored the work of women artists around the world, who have for centuries used pattern and decoration as a way of beautifying their lives and the lives of those around them. In the world of modern art, “decorative” had become a pejorative word signifying domesticity and inferiority. The feminist artists of the “P&D movement” helped to turn that around. My work naturally speaks of femininity through its forms, pattern and color, and it connects me to the women artists who have come before me.
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