Ellen Foster Sedgwick
Ellen Sedgwick Pottery
The time-honored technique of wood firing finds its origins in Japan, a country of aesthetic beauty with attention to the ancient ideals of transient and stark beauty (wabi), the beauty of natural patina and aging (sabi), and profound grace and subtlety (yūgen). Ellen Foster Sedgwick feels a resonance with these ideals and the Japanese view that they are an integral part of daily life which inspire her pottery.
On Tuesday, March 7 (4-5pm) in the Wilson Museum’s Hutchins Education Center, Ellen will reflect on how her knowledge of wood fired pottery in Japan as well as her experience working with American wood firing potters has led her to use a treadle wheel and a wood fired kiln to make pots that are sturdy, useful, and add beauty to the everyday. She will also share her recent experience designing and building a 12-foot anagama kiln which fires for a week solely with wood reaching temperatures above 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Ellen is so grateful to be living her dream with her husband and three young children in Surry and is excited for all the learning that lies ahead.
This presentation is free of charge and can be attended in-person or virtually.
If attending virtually, please register here.
The program is part of the Pottery: Shaping Clay, Shaping Culture segment of the Wilson Museum’s Connecting to Collections program series made possible through the generous support of Bangor Savings Bank.
Ellen’s Background
Ellen was born and raised in the Chicago metropolis yet always felt the strength of something primeval around her. Cultured in her growing up, she sought a ruggedness to balance the lines of conformity she sensed around her. Pressured by her Ethicist father to do something of meaning, she searched to find what that was, what that meant. In 1997 Ellen went to college in Bar Harbor and found what she was looking for in wood fired pots and in Maine. “I find the qualities of rough and refined, physical and atmospheric, and process and intuition embodied in wood firing and these things are foremost in how I experience existence.” Since as young as she can remember, the weight and wonder of these more transcendental questions have consumed her. Ellen also explores these concepts in Buddhism, meditation, and yoga, which she has studied all over the country and in a few places internationally.
Ellen has studied and fired with some of the most renowned American wood fire potters, including Jody Johnstone, Randy Johnston, Jack Troy, and Kevin Crowe. She completed two apprenticeships and worked as a studio assistant in her younger days and has been strongly influenced by potters Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada both by their pots and their philosophies.
Artist Statement
I make pots to find meaning. There is a sense of presence and timelessness that I feel when making and firing my pottery and I believe this is contained within the final piece. In today’s world of stress and constant activity there is a need and a want to slow down and really feel the present moment and I think the pots do that. When you interact with a pot in your life it makes you pause and notice the line, the surface, how it feels in your hand. It makes you notice the food you're eating out of it, and it adds a quality to that experience. I am fascinated by the elements of wood and fire and intrigued with the surfaces that are created. To me there is an aliveness held within the pot, that is my passion. My pots are daily pieces. They are sturdy and useful and add beauty to the everyday.