Ruth Easterbrook is a ceramic artist and instructor who makes a variety of pottery forms with complex glazed surfaces. Her career began in high school but has continued over the years from a BFA in ceramics at Syracuse University, training as a production potter, being an intern, and assisting various artists. As her career advanced Ruth has been a resident artist at multiple programs, and earned her MFA in ceramics at Alfred University in 2019. Currently, Ruth is one of the Artists in Residence at The Clay Studio, where she continues her studio practice. Ruth Easterbrook has been awarded NCECA Emerging Artist 2020 and Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist in 2022, her work can be found in private and museum collections throughout the USA.
I make pottery as an active participant in the coming together of people, sharing, and the enjoyment of food. Eating a beautifully prepared meal creates a celebration. I make pieces of service and I make interaction. Decisions in design facilitate containing, presenting, and service in the daily lives of others.
My detailed surfaces enhance the importance of a moment—attentive handling that leads to discovery and pleasure. The wildflowers and gardens of my home in Northern California inspire floral motifs. I grew up in tune with the season and was taught to identify and appreciate the wildflowers found in my backyard. This home was destroyed in the Fire Storms of 2017. While the structures are gone the flowers return to their familiar places demonstrating resilience and representing place and time.
My forms embody generosity and communicate utility that welcomes interaction. Using a palette of glazes from matte to glossy I map out the decoration with the intent of collaborating with the firing to flux and move glaze across surfaces. My decorations become fluid as they melt in the firing shifting and adjusting to the form and its multiple planes. I welcome happenstance and embrace the power of the heat as it transforms wet earth into rock and ground rocks into a subtle range of glazes.