Background

Originally from Winston-Salem, Tim moved to Raleigh in 1998 to attend North Carolina State University. He graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Applications and minors in English and Religious Studies. Tim continued to photograph and document the ceramic collection at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design, where he  interned as a student, until moving to Seagrove, NC to photograph The Remarkable Potters of Seagrove: The Folk Pottery of a Legendary North Carolina Community. While in Seagrove, Tim helped build and fire several kilns, including Daniel Johnston’s anagama, David Stuempfle’s anagama, and a Shigaraki style noborigama at STARworks. After two years of immersive study in wood kilns and regional ceramic culture, Tim returned to Raleigh and took a position as an art handler for the North Carolina Museum of History. He continues to fire regularly with David Stuempfle and has furthured his education through workshops at Penland School of Crafts.

Artist Statement

As a potter, I am intrigued by the inherent potential of natural materials. I allow the integrity of the materials to inform my process, relying on their innate qualities to guide me in creating complimentary shapes and surfaces.

By refining regional stonewares I retain a portion of naturally occurring minerals, metals, stones, and organic matter that are generally absent from industrially processed clays. My clay is varied yet dependable. Iron burnouts and quartz inclusions assure a degree of vivacity while precise amounts of specific minerals assure that the clay will withstand five or more days in a large wood-burning kiln. I fire for such an extended period of time because I do not typically glaze my pots. The surfaces I create with the kiln are unlike any glaze or brush stroke, being much more atmospheric and nuanced. Wood embers and fly ash melt and drip depositing minerals left by the bark and resins. Salt fluxes the silica present in the clay, causing glossy textured surfaces. The subtleties of the flame pattern cause my clay body to flash in a somewhat predictable yet irregular fashion. Sea shells and wadding clay not only act as setters in the kiln, but provide decorative marks as well. These elements, however primitive and ubiquitous they may seem individually, combine to form surfaces that are both sumptuous and sublime.