Richard Gruchalla & Carrin Rosetti: Recent Work

Artist Statement:

"We are a husband and wife collaborative team.  Ideas are shared; each of us brings different skills into the process of creating our work.  Carrin started out as a fiber artist—a tapestry weaver.  She came into the pottery studio with her sense for color and surface arrangement more than twenty years ago.  Richard’s career of forty-seven plus years has been as a studio potter, first making functional stoneware and porcelain in the Leach-Hamada tradition, and now working exclusively in raku.

Our pottery is, before all else, a statement of form.  We look first for the silhouette of the piece; the lift from the surface, the graceful extension from the foot to the belly into the curve of the body, the strength of the shoulder, the grace of the neck, and finally the finish of the lip.  All the parts are connected, and all the parts should be cohesive.

We call our style of work ‘American Raku’ to distinguish it from the original Japanese style of fast-firing and quick-cooling raku (the Japanese did not put their rake through the smoking part of the firing.)  We do, however, try to follow the example of Donyu, the third in line of raku masters, who was noted for his innovation in the use of the raku process.  We hope to continue with our innovation of this technique to produce work that will add to the library of contemporary American ceramics."

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website