about me
My name is Maddisen (usually just Madd) and I'm the studio manager and an instructor at Canton Clay Works in CT, where I've worked for a few years now.
Though I've always tried to make art, I never meant to make clay my career. In fact, I meant to pursue museum work (curation, collections, all that). However during the pandemic, I had to find other work. When I applied to an internship position at CCW, I figured I might as well have fun making pots while I made a little money!
So, I worked the oh-so romantic work/study situation: haul wood during the day, make pots at night. I wasn't very good but it got me out of my parents' house and being creative again. Eventually, I became the studio manager; and more eventually, an instructor. I'm surprised at how much I came to love teaching pottery.
I have a hand in everything the Canton Clay Works does, but my passion is in wood firing.
When I'm firing a wood kiln, I'm in love with the delicate push and pull, where each decision—whether to adjust the air, or stoke the flames—is a conversation between the potters and the kiln. It requires a balance of control and letting go, of precise decision-making and acceptance of the unpredictable.
When done well, the results are beautiful. But on a deeper level, the pots are almost like evidence: of the profound connection to the rhythms of nature, of the spirit of human craftsmanship, and of a link between the ancient and the modern. Sometimes I feel like my pots are in-consequential. But they're bigger than me, and will likely outlive me. Creation is part of the human condition; always has been.