Artist Catherine White came to NOVA Alexandria ceramics department on October 19th for a wonderful day of workshops and an evening artist talk. During the day, Catherine demonstrated decorating clay slabs and  how to create thrown and altered work.

The students enjoyed hours of being able to listen to her creative process and seeing her work.  It was a wonderful learning experience! 

Catherine White’s Workshop at Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria Campus on October 19th, 2023. Photo by Britt Conley.Catherine, weaves together throwing and hand-building irregularities that intentionally reveal the touch of the hand.  She collects, and poetically uses diverse raw materials in her anagama and gas-fired kiln in Warrenton, VA.  Clay work is intertwined with extensive drawing, painting and collaging.

Catherine’s Artist Statement explains, “Seeking a poetic language of material, shape and surface, White’s plates, bowls, cups and vases abstractly refer to the landscape through the raw materials she collects and transforms by considered manipulations of clay bodies and firing effects. Each piece has markings and irregularities that intentionally reveal the touch of the artist’s hand. One recent focus on multiple series of landscape plates reveals a painterly transformation of shadow and contour—specific layerings of atmosphere, terrain and light. Clay processes are also intertwined with extensive drawing, painting, and collaging on paper.”

White has an MFA in ceramics, studied painting in Aix-en-provence, France and taught ceramics for many years at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C.  She has had a commission for state gifts from President Obama and Michell Obama and is represented in both the Renwick and the Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian.  She also is has written for multiple publications in addition to writing about her own work.

For more information visit CatherineWhite.com