KENT HARRIS
I am a full-time studio potter in Amarillo, TX. My wife, Megan Easley, and I are the owners and operators of Blue Sage Pottery & Art Gallery located on W. Sixth Avenue, part of historic Route 66, as it runs through the Texas Panhandle. Megan is a very talented artist who now works primarily as a painter; her beautiful paintings are also displayed in our Gallery along with my pottery.
I studied ceramics with Elmer Taylor at the University of North Texas who inspired and challenged me to reach deep within myself and become the best potter I can possibly be, I credit him with fueling my interest in functional pots and earthy glazes. I returned to the Texas Panhandle in 2002 and completed my B.F.A. degree in Ceramics and Glass at West Texas A&M University. Today I work in our new spacious studio in Amarillo, TX., pursuing my love of stoneware pottery, ash glazes, and natural gas firing. I also travel, giving ceramic workshops, attending art festivals and participating in group and solo exhibitions.
My process of making the pots:
The process of making pottery is thousands of years old and is rooted deeply in traditions. I use age old techniques of preparing my materials for use. My pots are made out of the finest clays, prepared in the ancient method of blunging the clay in water and allowing it to dry slowly in settling troughs before preparing it for use on the wheel. The clay-making process usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for clay to dry to a soft throwing consistency. When the clay is ready I wedge it to prepare for wheel-throwing. Then I throw on the potter's wheel to create a piece that has beauty and will stand the test of time. I choOse to use a manual kickwheel which has a slower more rythmical revolution that lends itself to softer, more natural feeling pots.
After the pot is created on the wheel it must be allowed to dry before being fired to 1850F in a bisque firing. After the bisque firing the piece is glazed. The process of glazing employs a combination of wood ash glazes, local slip clays, iron and ochers. Using mostly local materials, wood ashes and clays for glazes gives my pots a superior quality that cannot be created by any other method. My processes and materials let my work be in true harmony with the earth. All of my work is finiShed by firing it in a gas kiln to 2400F in a reduction atmosphere, which fuses the glaze to the clay body.
My pots are dishwasher, microwave and oven safe (just preheat with pot in oven) and lead free. All of my work is made by the highest standards and should provide years of enjoyment. Perhaps some of them will still be around thousands of years from now.