Anne Webb, Pottery - Magnolia Springs AL

A native of Canada, Anne relocated in 2000 from Ontario to coastal Alabama, where she currently shares a studio with Lowell Webb.

She discovered the joy of working with clay in 1993 when she signed up for a pottery introduction class as a diversion from her day job. Ever since university, she had been looking for something that was intrinsically satisfying, and it appeared clay was it -- the connection was immediate, and she hasn't looked back since.

Mostly self-taught, Anne prefers to work on the potter's wheel.
"The clean, graceful forms that one can achieve on the wheel can equally stand on their own without adornment, or provide a good foundation for most any decoration, whether it be a simple glaze, free form brushwork, or carved design."

Anne makes both high-fired functional ware as well as one-of-a-kind art pottery. She draws design inspiration from the world around her here on the Gulf Coast, and is strongly influenced by the aesthetic and spirit of Asian and Celtic design, as well as that of the Art Nouveau Period.

"Pottery has a distinct human connection. It is a tradition strongly rooted throughout human history, transcending both cultural and chronological lines. Revisiting works from the past is a celebration of our diversity, giving us a reference point as both artists and human beings. "

Visit the Webb Pottery website: www.webbpottery.com
and blog at: http://www.webbpottery.com/blog

Lowell Webb, Pottery - Magnolia Springs AL

Working with clay has been a love of Lowell's since his childhood. He first discovered clay on his own when he was about 5, while playing near his family's home in Fort Walton, Florida. When he was about 11, he happened to see a folk potter giving a throwing demonstration at a local shopping mall. This really caught Lowell's attention and focus, and he went home and fashioned a crude kickwheel with "an old bicycle rim, some wood, some brick, and whatever else I could find. That was my first wheel and that's what I first learned to throw on."

After taking his first pottery class when he was 21, he met Florida potter Charlie Brown, who really opened Lowell's eyes to the raku firing process. Later, Lowell attended Memphis Academy of Art and from there, transferred into the sculpture program at Memphis State.
"I actually moved to southern Alabama in the 1980's because of the abundance of high-quality native clay, as well as the rich pottery tradition, ranging from that of Native Americans to the potteries of the last century."

Since moving to Baldwin County, he has taught at Fairhope's Eastern Shore Art Center, and has given many people private lessons out of his old studio in Silverhill, Al. He co-owned and operated Twinkleberry Pottery, producing raku, primitive-fired, and stoneware pottery. In 2000 he relocated to his present location in Magnolia Springs.

Lowell is currently working on a body of work he calls "artificial artifacts". As the name suggests, these artifacts aren't meant to be an imitation of actual ancient finds, merely reminiscent of them. His pieces provoke thought and distant memories of long lost cultures, as we envision the possibility of who might have made or used them and what hands they may have passed through. These clay pieces have a story to tell, even if only from a distant place in our imagination.

Visit the Webb Pottery website: www.webbpottery.com