Audry Yoder Heatwole was born in Michigan, attended Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana (BA in Education, 1956) and the University of Michigan (1957) studying art history. In 1960, she moved to Puerto Rico with her husband and two young sons. The family immigrated to Australia in 1966 where she began her formal pottery training at the Armidale Technical College. After spending four months in 1973 as a participant in the Hampstead Pottery Cooperative in London, she returned to Australia and began teaching ceramics at the Armidale Technical College and became a committed potter. From 1980 to 1983 she attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and completed a Masters degree in Fine Arts (MFA) with a major in ceramics and minors in papermaking and blacksmithing.
Back in Australia after graduate school, she renovated a 100-year old cottage and established a multi-media studio. Her interests were wide-ranging and included clay, fabric (silk dying, dressmaking and quilting), bookbinding, papermaking, woodworking (particularly marquetry) and interior design.
Her work has been shown in various galleries in the United States, Japan and Australia. She was an award winner in the Regional ACC Spotlight 82 Exhibition held at the Arrowmont Gallery, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. In 1987 she worked in Sendai, Japan, and shared an exhibition with Murikami Yoichi. While in Australia she was a member of the Craft Council of New South Wales and participated in the annual Australian Craft Shows in both Sydney and Canberra.
In company with the Potter’s Society of New South Wales, Audry at various times traveled to the Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, Peru and Mexico, specifically to study ceramics.
Returning to the United States in 1991, she settled in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, she continued her activities in multi-media crafts, taught from time to time in the North Carolina State University Craft Center, and became active in the Triangle Potters’ Guild. A computer program in glaze making became a dominant activity. In 2003, she took a course in Fijian wood carving at Haystack in Maine and applied wood-carving techniques to ceramics. She developed a distinctive style of carved pots.
On 6 March 2008 the creative talent of Audry Yoder Heatwole was extinguished by a fatal hemorrhagic stroke. She left behind the following personal statement of her involvement with art.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
“My aesthetic interests are involved with both form and surface. Simple and elemental geometric porcelain shapes are the basis for form-enhancing surfaces. In the color inlay vessels, pigmented clay becomes an integral part of the form and no further surface treatment is necessary, thus allowing the surfaces to be seen sharply and clearly. The carved vessels are inspired by Fijian wood-carving techniques, thus marrying two interests.
My source of inspiration comes from a long tradition in vessels---particularly Pan Shan (4000 BC) and Sung Dynasty (12th century AD) Chinese pots. As a nature lover I find interest in geologic formations of crystals, rocks and gemstones with their subtle coloration and ‘spontaneous’ character. Sunsets reveal some of the characteristics I use when dealing with surfaces of vessels. These include apparent texture (i.e., tactile smoothness and visual complexity), and on occasions, pastel colors. The carved pieces are much bolder and more defined. The process of making and high-firing pots is important to me. I work for perfection, yet, paradoxically choose to fire in a gas kiln because of its somewhat unpredictable results. Of late I have switched to lower-temperature electric firing. I enjoy the intense anticipation before opening each kiln, knowing there may be a serendipitous result---a gift of the kiln ‘gods’. It’s never the same.
In recent times in the climate of unrest, violence and chaos of the world, my response is to search for an expression of peace, security and foundation. I see in my art an affirmation of a human need for order, harmony and serenity and for the comfort of identifying with a known and understood referent. My work reflects a sensibility of elegance, preciousness and frequently precariousness. It is about the uniqueness of one-of-a-kind objects and relates to the individuality of each person and his/her personal insights.”
EXAMPLES OF AUDRY HEATWOLE'S
ART
PORCELAIN
