Sherryl Schmidt Lutz
I make pots. I like using my hands to find their familiar shapes in the clay, and I enjoy thinking about how many generations of people have done this work before me. I like the aesthetics of pots, both the well-worn forms of traditional ware, and the look and feel of my own experiments.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t excited about art. As a an artist having grown up in southern Louisiana, I find the natural world is a primary source of inspiration. Initially, I drew and painted but after my first pottery class in college I was hooked. My pottery is both thrown on the wheel and decorated with sculpted additions and impressed design reflecting my surroundings here in Louisiana.
I have two fine art degrees, a BA from Nicholls State university in Thibodaux, Louisiana (1978), and a MFA from Washington State University (1980), both in ceramic sculpture. My sculptural training has proved to be very relevant to my work. It enriches my life as a potter by allowing me to appreciate the beauty of traditional pottery forms, which I believe have become traditionalprecisely because people have always found them beautiful.
