
A Painterly Potter
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About Nancy Payne
A Painterly Potter
My source of inspiration is all around me; the intrinsic beauty of nature influences my vibrant palette. My Kalamazoo studio offers a view of seasonal woods, beautiful in all the forms, from tender clouds blanketing winter snowdrifts to cerulean blue skies over the summer verdure.
Creating landscapes on porcelain surfaces that tend to imitate sunsets and oceanic portraits is a challenging process. I use a painterly approach to glazing…carving freehand into the leather-hard porcelain or stoneware and later working with an airbrush to slowly build me colors, layering glazes one thin coat at a time.
My personal style has definitely been influenced by the Asian aesthetics-the simplicity, shape, color and form. Besides color and elegance, the work is hard-core functional. The materials I use are high temperature oxidation glazes which are lead free and can be heated in a microwave or conventional oven.
I want my work to enhance the everyday acts of cooking, serving food, and arranging flowers or plants.