Rosemary Crawford
Rosemary Crawford
Rosemary Crawford is a ceramicist residing in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her craft is an essential expression and creative counterbalance to her work as a mental health therapist. In 2019, while living in Seattle, WA, she studied under her neighbor, Elizabeth Alexander of Sunset Hill Ceramics. Her love of working with clay started with a class that led to a studio membership, which culminated in having her very own basement studio. Well-being Ceramics was born out of recovery from burnout – through ceramics she is able to become as centered as the work she creates. Her pieces are used on a daily basis in her own home and she hopes you will do the same. Grateful to be in community with you through her work, she thanks you for your support of her, of creativity in general, and of the arts at large.
My work as a therapist and a potter go hand in hand (pun intended). Here are a few ideas that translate beautifully in both realms and show up within each piece.
Transparency. This is a powerful tool I enjoy using in my daily life and it is facilitated in this medium by often using clear glaze as a finishing touch. Giving you a closer look into the unabashed natural beauty and tones of the clay bodies themselves, mixed with the marks of my hands and tools, I enjoy equally highlighting the particularities of the material and the maker. With each freckle and sculpting stroke, I hope you are moved by these unique combinations of nature and nurture.
Functionality. So often, beautiful design begs the beholder to protect it, not to come too close or touch it, lest you decrease its value. There is a spectrum of art that goes from being behind glass or with guards protecting it all the way to being able to experience it in interactive and immersive ways. Practical pottery is unique in that it is art that can be used in the context of ordinary life situations. It is my joy to present you with usable pieces who’s beauty and shape I hope will dignify the spaces and rituals they inhabit and promote. It is your interaction with it and use of it that gives it value. Just like self work- the power comes in being able to use what you learn.
Conversation. Each of these pieces was formed by unique conversations between my hands, my energy on a given day, the clay, air, water, time, gravity, and centrifugal force. I am perpetually moved by what can be created when we are willing to be in conversation – an idea, a challenge, thoughts, or feelings. The discussion continues with each piece through your interaction with it. I am not sure what you might see, feel or hear, but I hope that the juxtaposition of the delicate lines and the sturdy form remind you of your own balance of strength and softness.
