Galen Sedberry
Galen is the studio assistant and apprentice at Sedberry Pottery in Burnsville, NC. Galen’s interest in clay peaked during a year off from college when he began helping Ken in his studio and learning the basics of throwing, glazing and firing. Galen then returned to college, receiving a degree in Appropriate Technology. After several years in the solar industry, first as an installer and later as a superintendent overseeing the construction of utility scale solar projects, his hands found their way back to clay.
I have never undertaken an endeavor as challenging, heartbreaking, and rewarding as making pottery. Every part of the process offers challenges to be solved, requiring complete attention and presence.
Currently I am investigating the possibilities between deliberate surface decoration and the limitless variables derived from wood firing. I want my imagery to evoke themes of movement and energy, an aesthetic that I rely of the firing process to deliver. Painted with a stained porcelain slip, the lines and brush marks that make up the imagery on my pots are initially controlled but static. It is only after the application of ash glaze and the chaos of the wood firing atmosphere that the pots take on new life and create surfaces that come alive. I relish the collaborative approach between the maker and the kiln - the risk and chance of an uncontrolled flame path flashing across a pot in just the right way to produce a dynamic and unplanned surface is something I could try to emulate on my own for the rest of my life and still fall short.
Galen's Work
