Toe River Arts | Clay
Joy Tanner
Ceramics
524 Wilson Rd
Bakersville, NC 28705
Open 10 – 5 pm Monday through Saturday
828.230.0676
Email: joytannerpottery@gmail.com
Online Shop: joytanner.etsy.com
Instagram: @joytannerpottery
Facebook: @joytannerpottery
“I am just as interested in the way a leaf connects to its stem as I am in the folds of a mountain range or bursts of color at sunrise. I view these things with a mindful eye for the present moment. My work bears the mark of this awareness, resulting in uniquely designed pottery that is just as inviting to ponder and touch as it is to use and share. While I pay equal attention to form, surface, and detail, my pottery is most celebrated for its carved patterns inspired by nature. These patterns accrue a rhythm all their own as they swirl and drape across surfaces, suggesting spider webs, ripples in a stream, or water patterns in the sand. Firing my stoneware forms in a soda kiln or a wood kiln yields an ever-changing palette of natural variations of color. Cradling a cup or bowl in their hands, people feel inspired to bring a sense of awareness and ritual into their lives. Integrating the way I experience the world with the way I design my pottery is essential to my creativity. Whether rinsing garden tomatoes at the kitchen sink or pausing to study wildflowers along the trail, I believe in taking time to notice the little details of life.”
Joy Tanner redirected her creative focus when she discovered clay in college in 2000. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She then pursued a Resident Artist position at the Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts in Asheville, North Carolina. In 2007 Joy established her own clay studio near Penland School of Crafts in Bakersville, North Carolina. In the summer of 2010, she was awarded a summer residency at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine. Joy was also a Resident Artist at the EnergyXChange in Burnsville, North Carolina. She is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the Toe River Arts and exhibits her work in regional and national galleries. In 2013, she and her husband William Baker, (also a potter) established their own studio, Wood Song Pottery in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains in Bakersville, NC. Joy and Will love to call this place home along with their two children.
SELECTED WORKS FOR SALE
View all of Joy Tanner’s work for sale on our online store here.