Welcome to CLAY VESSELS: COMMON AND SACRED. I am pleased for your visit and hope you will enjoy what you see and read here.

Currently by avocation I am a studio potter and have been so intermittently since the spring of 1970 when Bud Wilkinson, the Potter of Dayspring, set my imagination on fire for this work. Bud’s picture and the story of our encounter in the form of a fable are included Since this first encounter with clay I have been drawn deeply into the work because of it’s creative energy and the tactile response of such supple material. Pottery as metaphor has also been a rich gate of spiritual inquiry.

Shortly after meeting Bud, I had a crash course in throwing with Richard Lafean, studied with Nancy Joy at the Corcoran School and took a year of courses at the School of the Chicago Art Institute. After moving to Columbia, Maryland, I worked as a part-time studio potter and made clay bodies for local potters. Since then I have continued to study at workshops with some amazing artists: Jim Kempes at in New Mexico, Wayne Higby and Stewart Kastenbaum at in Maine and Jim Romberg and Biz Littell at in Colorado.

All of my inner and outer life as a potter has evolved part-time alongside my primary work for 30 years as an Episcopal priest, the last 24 years at St. Paul’s Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

My clay work now moves in two directions: raku and ^6 oxidation porcelain. Shown here are a few raku pieces, with my porcelain work eventually being available as well. Both my clay work and website are very much works in progress so I hope you will return from time to time to see what is new.

In addition to clay, “word” and “spirit” have also been central to the language of my creative life. I have lead occasional workshops on spirituality and clay work and will announce here when such events are available in the future. As with many who are drawn to the spiritual life, reflective writing has also been a “gateway” for me to the inner journey. So you will also find here an occasional meditation, poem or (heaven forbid!) even a prayer!

Please contact me to let me know if anything you see or read here is stimulating. Clay, word and spirit are all part of the Great Conversation so enter in!   Roger