Sherry Lutz

I make pots. I like using my hands to find their familiar shapes in the clay, and I enjoy thinking about how many generations of people have done this work before me. I like the aesthetics of pots, both the well-worn forms of traditional ware, and the look and feel of my own experiments.
I can't remember a time when I wasn't excited about art. As an artist having grown up in southern Louisiana, I find the natural world is my primary source of inspiration. Initially, I drew and painted but after my first pottery class in college I was hooked. My pottery is both thrown on the wheel and decorated with sculpted additions and impressed design reflecting my surroundings here in Louisiana.
I have two fine art degrees, a BA from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana (1978), and MFA from Washington State University (1980), both in ceramic sculpture. My sculptural training has proved to be very relevant to my work. It enriches my life as a potter by allowing me to appreciate the beauty of traditional pottery forms, which I believe have become traditional precisely because people have always found them beautiful.