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Artist's statement

“Much of my work is wood-fired. The ash from the wood fire lands on the pot’s surface and forms a glaze or, in those cases where the pot is pre-glazed, alters the glaze. I made some pots a little uneven or rough in order to capture more wood ash as it goes through the kiln.

“I never know exactly what the pots will look like. My interest is in that mystery. The beauty for me is in the variation that I could never have thought of. Like a farmer who plants a seed in the ground, I do my best to make the conditions right for success but it is never totally up to me.”

Mark Goertzen ’88, Constantine, Mich., has been a full-time working potter at The Old Bag Factory in Goshen, Ind., since 1989.