Red Lodge Clay Center – Summer Resident 2023
Heather Lepp is an artist and educator originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She received her BFA from the University of Manitoba in 2016, and her MFA from West Virginia University in 2024. In addition to formal education, she apprenticed with four professional potters from 2016-2020. In 2019 she was an artist in residence at Medalta, and in 2023 she was a summer resident at the Red Lodge Clay Center. She has taught at numerous art centers and exhibited her work across Canada and the United States. Currently, she is a long-term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula where she lives with her partner and two dogs.
I am inspired to create pottery that fits a need in my daily life with an emphasis equally placed on beauty and practicality. In opposition to our current fast-paced society, my conceptual framework is shaped by poets, philosophers and artists which call to be present in small daily pleasures. Through a search for connection and beauty, my practice is rooted in process and celebration of the handmade.
With historical folk pottery as inspiration, I strive for my work to appear comforting and simple yet have an underlying contemporary complexity of form through alteration. In reference to my childhood cabin, my work is trimmed by hand giving the appearance of being hand-hewn. The pieces are then fired in an atmospheric kiln which creates a subtle surface that appears worn as if well-loved through years of use.
Confounded by the seemingly simple task of creating functional ceramics, I am challenged to inquisitively search for improvement. With this intention, it is my role as a maker to create thoughtful utilitarian wares that are used to enrich the everyday.