“The engineer vs the artist, the objective vs the subjective, exist like the right and left hand necessary to throw on a potter’s wheel. They push against each other, switching places and striving to communicate, and only when they work in harmony do they succeed in making something meaningful. Sometimes, the left supersedes and the work moves towards the linear and analytical, and the soul of the work is overshadowed by the precision. When the right is in charge, the clay becomes more free, the forms more organic and the surfaces speak with a louder voice. When they work in unison, the personalities of the clay dance with each other, sometimes in an improvisational tango, other times a curated waltz. Ceramics can be as simple or complex as you wish to make it. For me the beauty comes in the space between, where intuition brings together deeply involved research and elegant form.”
Ceramics has always been a shelter for me, an escape into thoughtful creation, a dance with a familiar partner. I love this medium, the people I’ve met while doing it, and the experiences gained through this community I have become a part of. I want you to feel that love, to share that experience, to understand functional ceramics in a way you might not have before. Notice the small things, appreciate subtle differences that a machine doesn’t make.
People shouldn’t be the only personalities at your dinner table.
Bio
Andrew ‘Augusta’ Smith is a multi-medium designer and artist based in Phoenix Arizona, primarily focused on ceramic vessels. Native to Edgefield County South Carolina, Augusta uses his background in production scale ceramics and traditional functional forms from his home county along with his engineering research discipline to produce wares ranging from precise vessels and tablewares, to brutalist expressionist sculpture, and many in-between. His current personal body of work focuses on capturing the temporary environment of an atmospheric kiln on the perpetual surface of a ceramic form, and the correlating collaboration of clay body formulation and ash in those atmospheres. He combines aspects of forms from historical ceramics native to his home with modern interpretations of balance, design and surface treatment, combining influences from the far east to the south west. Outside of his personal bodies of work, Augusta is known to work with artists and chef's of many different backgrounds on vessels and sculptures of various sizes, fired in neutral, reduction, soda and wood atmospheres, with clays ranging from low fire porcelains to high fire flamewares. His expertise in materials and experimental processes assists him in bridging the gap between himself and artists of different disciplines, and his process combines elements of craft, art, research and design. His work has been exhibited around the world since his graduation in 2020, including the Strictly Functional Pottery National (PA), the Saratoga Clay Arts Center's 'Altered Atmospheres' show (NY), The Long Beach Museum of Art (CA) and Patterns of Play (London, England). Augusta's work is included in the collection of The American Museum of Ceramic Art (CA), and various private collections around the country. Augusta currently lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona as an artist, designer and bio-medical engineer, as well as the co-founder of Hands Eyes Mind, a small goods company.