I am an Ontario potter and glass artist operating a small pottery north of Belleville Ontario. I blow glass in both established glassblowing studios and at glassblowing schools. While I have also started to experiment with kiln formed glass including fused and slumped glass and cast glass objects, my main focus is in the ceramic arts, with a strong emphasis on functional work.
I belong to various area guilds including the Kingston Potters Guild, Toronto Potters, Bay of Quinte Potters Guild, Kawartha Potters Guild, and Fusion: The Ontario Clay and Glass Association, as well as the Glass Art Society (GAS), and participate in the yearly Tweed and Area Studio Tour. I also have work for sale in some local venues north of Belleville, and in Kingston, Ontario. See links below for more information on where to find my work.
KAREN LATORRE - ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I am an engineer by profession and by practice. I work in the high technology world of telecommunications. This work is done in teams, with long range impacts on distant customers.
I am an artist by desire and drive. I work in the media of clay and glass. This artwork is done as an individual, with short term results that impact local customers.
My influences come from nature, as do my materials. I strive to achieve the interplay of colour and texture that I find in marble, sand, frost, metal, oatmeal, and wood.
I constantly experiment with the formulation and blending of glazes and the impact of firing temperature. I use both porcelain and stoneware clays as the “canvas” for my glazes. As an engineer, my nature is to ask “Why?” and “How?”. My path is to follow through in both theory and practice, pushing the limits of the materials.
Pottery is creation. It’s something from nothing. It’s unstructured. It’s freedom. It’s challenge.
Why do I do it?
For the thrill of opening the kiln and discovering what’s been forged in the fire.
I have worked with clay since 1994, and glass since 1997.
The skill sets have overlapped resulting in more fluid clay and structured glass forms.
My area of interest has centered around colour and has taken me through extensive experimentation in overlapped glazes, and the investigation of reactions between the various coloured frits used in glass.
My studio is an old converted barn behind the house. Beside it is another barn that I make into to a display area during our local studio tour by hanging curtains across 2 of the bays.
The image to the left is taken from the end of my driveway, going into the back section of the property.
The studio has a half loft where I store all of my raw materials for glazes, boxes for transporting pieces to and from guild shows, and other items that are not required regularly. There's about a 2 foot width through the center of the barn where you're able to stand upright in the loft.
In October of each year, I participate in the Tweed and Area Studio Tour. It takes place on the weekend prior to the Canadian Thanksgiving Day weekend.
My Mom often does the tour with me. She paints landscapes and still lifes in oils. She also does some watercolour.
My wheel is an old home built kick wheel, retrofitted with a foot peddle that pushes a motor, with a rubber disk on the drive, onto the plywood flywheel.
I have a tendency to wear out right foot running shoes since that is my braking system!
I prefer a kick wheel to an electric due to the extra control I have and the ability to move the wheel freely in either direction when altering, or applying a pattern to a piece.