Local artist Melissa Casey has always been a crafty person. While she initially started taking pottery classes to meet new people, the hobby eventually evolved into a full-scale pottery business.
Through Embodied Ceramics, Casey makes and sells meticulously crafted mugs, vases, plates and more. Produced in small drops, each piece of pottery showcases designs with sculptural, bold shapes and smooth, moving lines. Casey focuses on creating simple, functional pieces that are elevated through clean design inspired by a mid-century modern style.
“I try to keep my forms as refined as they can be, but they tend to be quite simplistic in their structure, and then I really like to focus on the surface design of the piece,” says Casey.
Casey often uses tape, vinyl or latex during the glazing process to create the exterior design on her pieces. However, Casey’s newest collection features a different firing technique called raku that produces a design with metallic surfaces and expressive, flowing colours.
Each unique ceramic is crafted inside Casey’s 39-square-foot studio, and it can take up to a few months to create a single batch of ceramics.
“The journey of making pottery is a lot like the name of my business, to me it has really forced me to let go of being in control of a process and just embody being present. And in order to be present in ceramics, you really have to let go of outcomes,” says Casey.
