Meet Local Maker - Bre Black
We’ve teamed up with Bre Black, a local potter, to create an exclusive, limited edition, product line for the Moffatt Grace Home Collection.
How did you get started?
I started working with clay about 5 years ago when I was on maternity leave, navigating the tough days of the pandemic. Despite a lifelong interest in ceramics I hadn’t ever touched clay!
When I was around 5 years old, I saw a video of someone throwing on the wheel. Fast forward 30 years later, my husband surprised me with a lesson at a local pottery and from there the obsession grew.
I quickly found myself selling my work to friends and then strangers. Within a couple years I had a fully functioning studio in my one car garage.
I am in pursuit of making something from nothing - a common theme in my life as a maker and dreamer.
“The first time I pulled a fully functional piece out of the kiln I knew. This is it. This is my thing.”
Walk us through your process.
My process is quite simple, really. I find most things that I come up with aren’t revolutionary or ground breaking - they are just my take on something functional that I can see myself using but making it beautiful in my own home.
I’ve found that the things I’m most proud of are the things that come to me as I’m going about regular life. At my core, I value practicality and beauty and sometimes it’s in that intersection that I find the wheels of creativity thriving.
Any tools you can’t live without?
I would say at this point the essentials are a kiln, clay and your hands.
I was always challenged by what you could make on a wheel, but in the last couple years I have come to love and appreciate what you can make with hand building.
At it’s core, it’s making vessels and pieces without the use of a wheel, slab roller or any other big tools. There are so many gadgets out there (and I have many of them) but as far as things I can’t live without, these would be it!
How would you describe your approach?
Because I’m almost completely self taught, at first I found myself looking at other artists I admired and making things that closely mirrored their style.
Over time I’ve become more confident in the basics and it has allowed me to take something from my brain and put it into reality.
I spent the year with an amazing mentor who helped me find clarity for my work and that process continues to this day.
I really believe that as an artist (something I only allowed to believe I was since this mentorship) you always have to go back to what YOU find beautiful and satisfying.
What’s one project that really sticks with you?
I was asked to make a bar sink, and it was by far the most challenging piece I had done. I hadn’t ever made something that big, and it required hand building with slabs and some very specific measurements.
Clay has varying shrink rates so there was a lot of math involved. My experienced potter friends suggested I pass on the project, but I decided to do it.
I overthought every step and ended up making three because the first two cracked.
The funny thing is that now I look back on that project as a huge lesson. I am so glad I did it - I learned so much!
