Guest Potter Erica Wurtz

(pottery by Erica Wurtz from Mass. Cultural Council)
I am a slug on the sidewalk.

I went to college with Erica Wurtz, but the truth is I was in pottery kindergarten and she was in college. By the time she was a sophomore, her work was more accomplished than mine is now, and I have been working with clay 23 plus years. Yeah, she was good, only got better.
Erica took a whole different route to art school. At 18 she apprenticed to a potter, and at 19 was a freshman. I noticed when I was a college student that all the folks who had worked for a while straight out of high school were miles ahead of the rest of us in maturity, and simple gratitude to be locked up on a campus with the bills paid and the food in the dining room ready to eat. So, not to sound like I worship this woman's ability or talent, but she happens to be extremely nice (well, she was 20 years ago), creative and hard working. I was a slacker in most ways, and a slob. But enough comparison, just check out this web site and her work. So in recent years I have stumbled over her work everywhere, visiting Chicago, 'oh Erika made those pots!' or Northampton, Mass 'Oh, more pots by Erika!' in a magazine, 'wow, Erika's work looks GOOD'. I believe that she sketches ideas, makes parts and shapes on the wheel, and when they have dried somewhat she chops, whacks and smoothes them together. Pretty darn cool.