Feats of Clay Pottery Studio

My name is Karen Sullivan.  I was born and raised in Berkeley, CA.  My mother introduced me to arts and crafts as a young child.  She taught me how to knit and to weave baskets as well as other crafts.  I taught myself jewelry making as a teen.

I moved to Brooklyn, NY in 1970.  I moved to Long Island in 1976.

I took my first pottery class in 1980 through the Huntington Art League.  Life got in the way of my pottery until 2005.  Life began again when I retired. 

In February 2005 I took a pottery class at the Stony Brook University Craft Center at the Student Union Building.  Pottery has been my mental and physical therapy every since.

I took my first raku class in the summer of 2006 at the Art League of Long Island.

I have taken pottery classes at Suffolk County Community College and Nassau County Community College.  I have continued to be involved with the Craft Center at Stony Brook University.

I have shown at:  SCC Student Showcase, Brentwood campus.  NCC Student Showcase in Garden City, NY.  The Ripe Gallery in Greenlawn, NY.  Artastic Destination Gallery in Huntington, NY.  I have also been involved with several art and craft fair venues throughout Suffolk County, NY.

I belong to the Long Island Craft Guild, The Potters Council and the American Craft Council.

While I enjoy making functional pottery pieces that are food, oven, microwave and dishwasher safe,  I also like to experiment in alternative firing methods like raku, pit fire* and saggar firing*.  I like to utilize mermaid tears (also known as sea glass) to decorate some of my pottery pieces.

I am now trying to drag myself (kicking and screaming) into the "tech age" by developing and creating my own web site:  http://www.featsofclaypottery.net  It is a process.

Keep checking back for updates and new pictures of my pottery pieces.

I hope you enjoy my pottery.

* pit fire is a primitive firing where the tempatures are lower and glazes are not used.  The color on the pots are from the chemicals added to the "kiln" which may only consist of a simple hole in the ground (a pit). (from Wikipedia)

*saggar firing is an alternative firing process for pottery.  The easiest way to describe a saggar fire is a kiln within a kiln.  You can also place a pot inside another pot to fire it.  Saggars are filled with combustible materials like sawdust, less combustible organic materials, salts and chemicals.  These materials ignite or fume during firing, leaving the pot buried in layers of fine ash. (from Wikipedia)