UTC RAVE Alert

How?

Carrie Anne Parks demonstrates how to use handbuilding techniques to create vessels and bowls. She reflects on her experiences as a potter and her relationship with clay as a material. Parks expresses appreciation for locally-sourced clay and connection to one’s land in working with local clay. She recognizes that while ancient peoples are culturally and historically very different, handbuilding techniques are still used by contemporary artists. She teaches courses on handbuilding techniques at Scenic City Clay Arts in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it is through this practice of teaching that she contributes to resilient efforts to continue these traditions of making. In an electric potter’s wheel world, Parks recognizes there is a unique relationship in using local materials and your hands to create. She admits that there is a form of communication in handbuilding that she shares with these Ancient peoples. By continuing to use ancient handbuilding techniques, contemporary artists actively preserve these traditions and histories.

Potter uses fingers to pinch coil to red clay base