heather Morton
Heather was born and raised in Delaware to a creative family who cultivated her artistic pursuits from an early age. She began making works in clay during middle school when a kind teacher allowed her to experiment with the classroom’s dusty and neglected pottery wheel. Her interest in pottery carried her to University of the Arts, Philadelphia, where she studied Ceramics and earned a BFA in Photography. After a three year period of apprenticing and managing the studio of a master potter in San Diego, she opened her own San Diego studio / storefront - Black Phoebe Ceramics. Black Phoebe was a clear choice for the studio’s name, as multiple Black Phoebe nests lined the overhanging eaves, bringing much joy to all. In fact, it became yearly studio maintenance to remove old nests, making way for renewal and spring hatchling. When visits from the city to the desert became more frequent, it became clear the desert was calling. Relocating to Las Cruces in 2016 was a much needed way to slow down, delve deeper into her clay practice, focus on family and new motherhood, and to bask in the delicate hues and inspirational gifts of the Chihuahuan desert.
Heather’s ceramic work consists of wheel-thrown stoneware pieces, largely functional items such as mugs, tumblers, and bowls. Each glaze is developed and tested in-house. Keeping shapes and silhouettes simple, Heather spends the majority of her studio time exploring surface treatments. Multiple thin glaze layers are applied by brush and spray, making each piece unique. Thousands of test tiles fill studio drawers, offering endless opportunities. Preferring natural colors over a garish palette, she uses powdered oxides and minerals to adorn pieces, working similarly to a painter; dozens of differently sized brushes, handmade marking tools, glaze cups, and small puddles of color cover the studio table. Freckling and splattering between thin coats add depth to seemingly simple surfaces. Special attention is paid to the weight and balance of each piece, and a careful polishing ensures a pleasant experience for the user.
In addition to Agave Artists, Heather is a longtime member of Cielo Handcrafted, a Canyon Road gallery / artist co-op located in Santa Fe, NM. She’s exhibited in many galleries and artist spaces from coast to coast.
Artist’s Statement
Years ago, as I was beginning my three year path as a potter’s apprentice, my mentor handed me a few ceramic glaze recipes to be mixed. This was my first glaze testing experience, and I produced some very unattractive tests. The tiles featured bland shapes of color, but my imagination was immediately captured by a few small details - the subtle areas of overlap. The magic was clearly happening in the margins, and after completing thousands of tests for my mentor, I embarked on my own studio and glaze explorations in 2014. What followed was a decade of layering, thickness tests, and exploring how glazes of my own design can play together. I set up a glaze kitchen and began mixing, finding it to be my most rewarding space. After years of experimentation, I’ve tailored down the variables for my current body of work, now using one custom clay body and just a few base glaze recipes. Using restraint in those areas gives me a firm foundation to navigate infinite possibilities in a somewhat contained manner. Fine tuning the way the kiln fires and cools allows me to manipulate the surface, encouraging an interesting result.
My primary materials consist of mid-fire stoneware, wheel-thrown and fired with customized firing schedules in an electric kiln. When a person interacts with my work, I hope they first notice a simple and pleasing silhouette. Next, I would like them to be pleasantly surprised at the balance and feel of the item, a result of careful clay weighing and thorough polishing. The surface, which seems quiet from a distance, becomes sophisticated and nuanced upon closer examination. My current process requires hours of intensive glaze work - building up thin layers on each piece, flicking, brushing, and spraying. A successful piece will hold a balance of simplicity and complexity. If it seems lacking, another layer and firing can bring it to completion. A single piece may have multiple glazes applied thinly, to encourage depth and veils, but it should not appear heavy or burdened by its clothes.
