Elizabeth Woolrych Pottery

Elizabeth Woolrych is a potter, sculptor and teacher. She has taught adults and children in many places around San Diego (and as a Lecturer/Demonstrator at the Academy of Arts and Design is Beijing, China in 1992) and currently teaches classes at the San Diego Potters' Guild and in Studio 6, her studio in the Spanish Village Art Center.
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Elizabeth works using several different styles and techniques, including the Japanese firing process Raku, and a primitive firing technique which uses seaweed and plants to influence the final color of the clay. Elizabeth is currently experimenting with seaweed wraps using a saggar, a vessel originally used to protect a piece of pottery from smoke, gases and kiln debris during firing. Elizabeth uses the saggar to pack combustibles around a piece during the firing, not only to affect the color but also the patterns in the colors.
For Elizabeth, its not about brilliant colors. It is about subtle colors, simple shapes and clean lines. "I like to see the clay. I also like using black to emphasize the shape and lines of a piece, rather than multiple colors that might distract from those lines."
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Her work is represented in several collections and galleries in the West. Elizabeth focuses on working and demonstrating in her studio/gallery in the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park, where each summer she also runs a children's art and clay workshop.