Ronan Kyle Peterson

www.ninetoespottery.com         @caterboy on Instagram            @ninetoespottery on Facebook

 

Artist Statement

Essentially, I am dealing with effects of agents of growth and decay and how these agents shape and embellish the surfaces of stones and the skins of trees. These agents also serve key roles in interacting with my ceramic vessels.  Mushrooms, seed pods, grubs and other growths serve as knobs and handles, allowing one to remove lids and discover what might be inside or underneath a covered vessel, like lifting a rock to have insects scurry in many different directions when subjected to the light of day. The vessels are not intended to be actual representations of the trees and rocks, but abstractions and stylizations of these natural phenomena. Employing an earthy background palette stretched across textured but quieter surfaces, I wanted to upset that quiet earthiness with intense splashes of vibrant color, patterns, and glossy surfaces not commonly associated with tree bark or the rough surfaces of rocks amidst fallen leaves.  I am interested in inflated volume and thick line qualities that reference comic style drawings and how that can apply to interpreting the natural world. With my ceramic vessels I hope to create a comic book interpretation of the natural world with a focus on the rocks and trees and their role in the perpetual organic comedy of growth and decay.  Recently, I have turned to abstract paintings for ideas and inspiration, and definitely delve more into the imagined and extra-terrestrial speculations that float in and out of my mind.

 

Using red earthenware clay, I layer slips, terra sigillatas, and glazes, with wax resist patterning, to create my highly decorated earthenware vessels.  My work starts from a functional basis, e.g. cups, bowls, plates, but my true desire is to create overly embellished vessels that are cartoon representations of compositions that I might find lying on the forest floor, crawling across the bottom of the ocean, or hovering in space over the surface of a gas giant planet.  I hope viewers and users get a sense that my pots could just slither away if they turn their gaze away for too long.

 

Bio

 

Ronan Kyle Peterson grew up in Poplar, NC, a small community deep in the mountains of western North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 1996 received a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Anthropology, with a minor in Folklore.  He was a Core Fellow at Penland School of Crafts in 2000-2001, and has returned to Penland to teach Summer Session workshops.  Currently, Ronan maintains Nine Toes Pottery, which produces highly decorative and functional earthenware vessels.  His work has been featured in both Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times, and the books 500 Bowls and 500 Plates and Chargers.   Recent exhibitons include solo shows at the Cedar Creek Gallery (NC) and Charlie Cummings Gallery (FL) and invitational shows at the Northern Clay Center as part of the American Pottery Festival 2020 and 2021, Akar Gallery Yunomi Invitational 2020, Worcester Center for Crafts in Worcester, MA, and the Carbondale Clay Center in Carbondale, CO.