First I would like to express my gratitude for my wife, Melissa, whose steadfast support has challenged me to become a better artist and person. Her love and superior knowledge of grammar made writing this book possible. I also owe a special thank-you to my parents and grandparents who encouraged me to find my way as a potter and never tried to dissuade me from being an artist. I must also thank the Carter and Brzycki clans for their continued love and support.
I extend my never-ending gratitude to the art educators who laid the foundation of knowledge upon which this book is built. To Julie Hamilton, Lisa Stinson, Maud Boleman, and Matt Long, thank you for your thoughtful teaching and mentorship. To Linda Arbuckle, thank you for your sharp eye for design. I appreciate your unanswerable questions and also your teaching me to communicate through clay. I thank all of my former teachers for your tolerance and encouragement of my endless stream of questions and obsession with ceramics.
I would like to thank Josh Maxey, Tommy Frank, Cassie Butcher, Chris Pickett, Patrick Coughlin, Chandra Debuse, and my other studio mates over the years for the late-night studio conversations that have enriched my life. I am deeply grateful for your intellect and sense of humor.
I would like to extend a humble thank-you to the artists who are featured in the book. Thank you for pushing your own limits and being a major part of what makes the ceramic world so special. Your collective generosity, creativity, and passion for clay continue to inspire me in my studio. I’d especially like to thank Kristen Kieffer, Michael Kline, Julia Galloway, Kyle Carpenter, Will Ruggles, and Douglas Rankin for making pots that challenge me to make better pots.
A hearty thank-you to the Odyssey Center for the Arts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Archie Bray Foundation, and the other art centers in which I have had the great fortune to be an artist in residence. The time and dedication put forth by the staff at these centers created a space for my own ceramic exploration and personal growth. I am eternally grateful for the hard work you all do to create opportunities for other makers.
Lastly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my editor, Thom O’Hearn, for his guidance, patience, and optimism during the writing of this book. I could not have written this book without him. A special thank-you to the rest of the team at Voyageur Press for giving me the opportunity to write this book and for supporting the field through publishing books on the ceramic arts. Thanks also to Tim Robison for the photography as well as to Gabriel Kline and Odyssey, once again, for the generous use of their studio and their help during the shoot.