Henry Pope & Mary Mikkelsen

Mary and Henry have been making pots together for over thirty-five years. Henry strives to make useful pots and still loves to throw functional forms on the wheel. Mary has focused on the surface of the vessel, often painting on or carving into the pots that Henry has thrown. More recently she has been handbuilding abstract shapes, adding surface treatment to give dimension, using terra sigillata and dark stains in multi-layers. Some favorite themes come from prehistoric cave paintings, representing the birth of arts forms; female torsos transformed into teapots or vases; fish swimming across pot surfaces; and birds, cardinals, perched and interacting within separate frames.