Artist’s Statement - Ruth Apter

I like to collect things from nature: bones and skulls, shells and rocks, fossils and driftwood, tree fungus and giant barnacles, feathers and mosses. You can imagine what my house looks like. I also collect animals it seems, and I live with two cats and three dogs, and my wonderful husband who builds what I dream up.

Living on the Olympic Peninsula is a daily adventure in itself. I am fortunate to live in a place where bald eagles, herons and ravens fly over my house and the water is always only moments away.

I am happiest on the days that I am doing the final raku firing of the pieces I make. It is pure magic to watch the colors and designs come to life while being manipulated by heat, wind, smoke and water. On a recent windy day during a raku firing, the sawdust was blazing away as it stuck to the sides of each pottery animal as it was taken from the reduction barrel to be quenched in water. As the pieces cooled I could see the amazing colors and patterns the flames had created on the glazed surface of each animal. That is the magic of Raku!

Here I am in my lovely little studio. I have music cd's and books on tape to listen to while I work. The kilns are outside under a simple shed roof just steps away

- Ruth