The class lasted 5 weeks, during which time I was able to be in the Craftshop studio, practicing 6 or 7 days a week for hours at a time. These hours of practice, combined with a strong desire to learn as much about clay as possible, and a willingness to push the clay to its limits, allowed me to progress at a rapid rate, and soon I started to make pots that were worth keeping.

After taking an additional advanced throwing class at Lakeside Pottery in Madison, and setting up a barebones studio in a spare bedroom in our house, my wife Corinne and I decided that we would sell the greenhouse business, and I would go into pottery-making full time. Cori is employed as a Rehabilitation Counselor, and with her salary paying the bills, I was able to pursue a career in clay.  (Thanks Cori.) 

Common Ground Pottery was born.

I started entering juried art fairs in Wisconsin and surrounding states, and was soon attending 15 to 20 quality art fairs every year. Early on, while viewing the slides at an open jury selection for one fair, I noticed that my pottery was the only entry that didn’t have any kind of surface decoration on the pots. I had nice dipped glazes, but nothing to really make my pots stand out among the many entries.

Wanting to create pottery that was special among other pots, I started to experiment with resists, and quickly found that I could leave areas of bare clay designs on the surfaces of the pots, in the middle of the glazes. After making a dozen or so pots using this technique, I found that if I was able to make the resist lines narrow, I could get the glazes close together, and make striking, multi-colored designs. Early on there were many failed attempts, as I found that I needed to layer the glazes on the pots, to the right thickness. Too thin, and I would not get good color. Too thick, and the glaze would run over a design during the firing, wiping out hours of work.

As more glazes were added to the palette, the designs became increasingly intricate. The aesthetically pleasing forms were also being developed at the same time, and the combination started to win awards, and attract collectors at the art shows I attended.

In the summer of 2002, after attending fine art fairs for seven years, I applied for the Wisconsin Art Pottery Association’s annual Art Pottery show and sale, in Madison. The response was phenomenal both from the public and the other dealers and collectors.  Since then, I have attended a number of Art Pottery shows, and shows devoted to the Arts and Crafts movement.  I continue to attend a few select shows, and sell directly to collectors from this website.

I am very pleased to be offering this pottery for your consideration.

Eric E. Olson

Common Ground Pottery