Neil Patterson has been making pots for forty years. Neil has a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA from Louisiana State University. He was a core student at Penland for two years and spent a year studying Ceramics at the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education in Wales. He has been an artist in residence at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia and teaches part-time at several local colleges. Together with his wife Sandi Pierantozzi Neil teaches workshops nationally; they maintain a studio in Philadelphia.
Neil’s work strives to show the vitality of clay, especially through the use of texture. Most of his forms are begun on the potters wheel and then altered (faceted, ridged, cut and re-assembled.) The white stoneware clay is completely vitreous and the colorful glazes are food safe. In his functional work Neil wants to make pots that are beautiful to look at and comfortable to use.
I am lucky enough to have discovered early in my life that I am a potter. I feel certain that for as long as I am alive I will take the Earth's body into my hands and form it into containers for sustenance. To have an intimate connection to the hand formed object is vital to a full life. To experience the potters attention to volume, texture, weight, color, and space while savoring a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup is one of life's sublime pleasures.
I make pots that are designed to be used and enjoyed. Through their carefully considered properties I hope to provide a slow, savory experience for the user. There is always an evidence of the soft material, clay, often bolstered by a formal or architectural structure.
