Stop 4 – Fluid Coffee

www.BarchaPottery.wordpress.com

My inspiration:

In my mind DIRTY HANDS mean

– Challenge, relaxation, creativity, inspiration, play….

…..I love Dirty Hands
– building sand castles
– digging and planting in the garden
– making pots of clay

I was born in Prague, a beautiful city full of history and culture, where I graduated from the Prague College of Graphic Art.

Prague, a city full of churches, temples, castles, full of music and art and gardens was very inspirational. In those years in Prague I was always drawn to three-dimensional work, but never had the opportunity to work with clay. Instead, I started to explore the beauty of weaving, tapestry and lace making.

In 1990, I immigrated to Canada with my family and after settling down in Ottawa in 1995, I started to work with clay. I joined the Ottawa Guild of Potters and over the years I have had the opportunity to take courses at St. Lawrence College and at Fleming College in Halliburton. I have also taken numerous workshops offered by the Ottawa Guild of Potters and by Fusion (Ontario Clay and Glass) with top Canadian and US Potters.

I make functional and decorative pieces, using slabs, in combination with thrown elements. I experiment with distorting and altering thrown pieces and adding more texture by stamping, folding, carving, or simply adding more clay and decorating with slips, and brush work.

The contrast between glazed and unglazed parts of the pots brings out the texture of the piece and the warmth of the clay. Most of my work has some function with sculptural content. My work is high-fired pottery in oxidation. My passion for gardening and nature is represented in my work and it is a continuous inspiration.

I work from my beautiful log home studio “in the woods”, where I spend my time between pottery making, gardening, weeding, wood chopping & splitting.