Peggy Twist | The Potter’s Cast 1179 • Claystation

Descriptions:

Peggy Twist is a ceramic artist working out of her home studio in western Massachusetts. Sgraffito is Peggy’s primary decorating technique on both white and brown stoneware. Peggy thinks of herself as both a functional potter and ceramic artist. Crafting functional forms and imagining and executing her ideas with thoughtful consideration for its purpose and beauty.

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Who are your creative heroes?

Well it can go back to my teacher Charlene from the Newport art museum if you want to do a human who is in my sphere right now. And she is a sgraffito artist and she oversees the whole school there. But people who are in the past Clary Ilian is a great potter, Bernard Leach, Warren McKenzie. Those types of people inspire me.

A lot of the people you named are great potters but don’t focus in the surface design as much. Why do you choose them?

I think for me it reminds me of the first potter that I met with my mom’s friend, back in the 70’s, and I just love the skill and the technique and that foundational skill that they offer. Charlene, my tracker from the Newport Art Museum introduced me to sgraffito and I was off to the races.

Would it be safe to say they are there for your firm and she is there for your surface?

Yes, for sure. And I think that’s good for anybody, really.

Are you indiscriminate when you are looking for inspiration? Or selective?

I think I’m pretty selective. I kind of forest bathe. We have birds every where, we are in the woods out here and mountains. So I don’t find myself randomly digging through photographs and material. I’ve got books in herbs and floral and fauna that I look at and then I just look out my windows. I’m pretty specific

Do you feel like your work is filling a gap on something that is missing?

Filling a gap that’s missing? Umm, I suppose. Although it’s very much a part of my life every day here so maybe not. I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that.

Should we wait as a maker to know who we are, or until we have a voice before we start sharing our work?

Never. If you are confident enough to get it out there for the first time, take the chance. It’s worth it because you never know who’s going to see it and where that’s going to take you. Doors open all the time. Don’t be afraid.

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