Visiting Artist Series Lecture: Earth Tones exhibition - Josh Copus in Conversation with Jessamine Michler

Clay is a material accepting of impression. It is a record of every process, from its geological formation in the earth to its eventual transformation in the fire. My work with ceramics begins with the clay. By using local materials dug from the river bottoms and mountainsides of western North Carolina, my work gains a connection to place and establishes the materials as a valuable source of influence. I dig my own clay from a tobacco field alongside Turkey Creek and everything I make contains an element of my response to that experience.

IMAGE: Josh Copus Studio.