Annamarie Poole

Annamarie Poole

Blue Mist Pottery

Life often takes unexpected twists and turns. In my life, pottery is one of them. I've worked as a social worker for people with disabilities and dabbled in various personal interests like quilting, batik, gardening and watercolor painting for most of my life. Having taken most of the art classes that were offered, I took a pottery class in 2002 at Hagerstown Community College and knew immediately that clay would consume every bit of my available time and energy. I have been making pots ever since and loving it. I particularly like making beautiful things that people use to enrich the ordinary activities of their every life.

I work in both porcelain and stoneware because of the qualities each clay body brings to the finished piece. And although every aspect of working with clay is great fun, I particularly like incorporating bits and pieces of previous interests into my clay work. I carve flowers into porcelain forms and enjoy seeing the carving come alive when translucent glazes let the pure white porcelain clay body shine through. I enjoy using wax resist( similar to batik) glaze techniques on stoneware to produce multiple layers of color and patterns. In recent years I began painting various flower designs using under glazes on porcelain in a style that is reminiscent of water color.

Clay is a wonderful and complex medium. There are numerous clay bodies, types of glazes and firing methods each of which produces different results in the finished piece. So many opportunities to explore, so many ideas to share, I hope others will make use of my creations and through these pieces of clay, brighten some small aspect of their world