Marcia Selsor has been working in clay since 1966 when she enrolled in the 3-D course at the Philadelphia College of Art. She received a BFA and went on to receive an MFA from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She has taught university-level ceramics at Montana State University-Billings for 25 years and is a Professor Emerita there. She also taught at UH- Manoa, UT-Brownsville, and the Tashkent Institute of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited and published internationally. She has also written for numerous ceramics magazines and journals. She has been a presenter at NCECA 5 times. She received two Fulbright Senior Scholars Awards: Spain 1985-86 and Uzbekistan 1994. She has been teaching workshops nationally since 1972 and internationally since 1995 in Canada, France, Spain, Italy, England and Scotland. She lives in Red Lodge Montana.
I have been trying to reduce my carbon footprint by lowering firing temperatures using alternative firing techniques while emphasizing the integrity of beauty and character of clay. I use simple forms as a canvas for creating the colors, marks and textures. Recently I have been experimenting with soluble salts. Using saggars, I experiment with fuming salts to create marks and colored subtleties on a polished surface. I am exploring the physical characteristics of salts dissolving into the surfaces and the clash of pH factors that create rings of color and contrast.