Paula West Pottery, San Juan Island.
Pottery production is challenging and requires a mastery of forms, styles and glazes to develop an enduring line of products. Paula West Pottery employs a sophisticated use of clay to create elegant and thought provoking shapes, patterns and colors.
Small scale production keeps the hand made feel alive while the shapes and glazes have a distinctive artistic voice. The gallery is open to the public.
Background
Paula is the eponymous owner and designer for the company and is a studio potter living on San Juan Island, Wa. Originally From Connecticut, she moved to San Juan Island in 1990 and in 1993 set up a small, home based ceramic studio. For the next 10 years she honed her craft and sold work at regional art and craft shows while working part time and raising two sons with husband Joe Cooper.
In 2005, Paula dedicated herself to full time studio work and began opening her charming rural studio and showroom to the public.
Merging function, craft, and art, Paula’s work is thrown on the potters wheel or shaped from rolled slabs of porcelain and stoneware clay. She explores texture, contrast, and line, creating whimsical motifs, geometric patterns, and carved surfaces using sgraffito and mishima surface decorating techniques.
Her pots are meant to be used, their true beauty expressed through functionality. Paula West Pottery works are collected by locals and visitors alike and can be found gracing many San Juan Island homes and restaurants, have been shown in national juried exhibitions and the countryside studio is a regular on the San Juan Island Artists’ Studio Tour.
Guild Member since 2020
