Susanne Zwahlen
The Sheltowee Art Fair November 2009
My heartbowl in waterford brown glaze
Gingerbread, and pig ornamnets and nomes.
Waynesburg, KY
A dream come true…
I came over to the USA in November 2003. The reason is of course that I married an American man. I am from Sweden and had been working as a nurse so to get started working in the USA I had to get my license in the USA.
During the time I studied for that I had some free time and had always wanted to try pottery but never have had time. This was a great opportunity to try the wheel out…
I started out with two evening courses in Danville, got a wheel and a electric kiln. I just got hooked on it…
I always use stoneware clay, my pieces are bisque fired to cone 0.4 and I glaze to cone 6. I do mix my glazes by myself from chemicals that are diluted with water.
In the fall of 2004 I went to a potter named Marianne Brown to learn some more details, she shared some good techniques with me.
I got accepted as a juried member of the Sheltowee Artisans in the spring of 2005.
I am now working on the wheel by myself and try to learn more about the secret of pottery.
My philosophy of my work is that I want to be doing something that looks nice but can also be used for a purpose. I am in for functional pottery with inspiration from my home country Sweden and my new country USA.
I also have been juried in for my knitting which I am very happy for since knitting is something I have been doing all my life. I mostly enjoy knitting sweaters in wool or cotton but I do other things too as scarves.
