Autumn Borts-Medlock is known for her deeply carved pottery and use of stylized animals motifs.  This new bowl is one of her larger pieces and it is fully carved.  Autumn says that the bowl was inspired by her experiences living in Taos, New Mexico, and the elk in the forest, and the oak trees by the rivers.  This bowl has four elk encircling the bowl. They are deeply carved into the piece and each has a heartline.  Note the layering on the antlers as that gives them depth and perspective.  Each elk is highlighted with black, white, and tan clay slips.  Around the rim and the base are carved oak leaves.  Each leaf is carved in relief and highlighted with a micaceous clay slip. The leaves around the base are carved at an additional level so that they look like they are on top of the clay surface!  Autumn said that she spent time working on the textural background of the bowl to give it a more voluminous appearance.  The background is slipped with micaceous clay giving just a bit of reflection to the clay. The bowl is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Autumn Borts-Medlock”.  It’s always great to see such precision and attention to detail in her pottery.

Autumn has said of her pottery:

“I love traditional designs that have been handed down, but I also want to express my imagination. It’s important to take it into my own hands and be unique, and everything has continued to grow and evolve from there.  You learn to have patience as a potter. You have to set one coil at a time and then come back and do another one. For me, it’s quite a commitment to start a big pot, as it can take between one and two years to finish. That’s a lot of time and energy invested in one piece. I like their presence and energy and challenge.  When I’m building a pot, sometimes designs quickly come to my mind. I think about what kind of design is going to balance the shape of the pot. It will start to work itself out as I plan the design on the shape. Other times I build a pot and have no idea what I’m going to put on there.” Autumn Borts-Medlock, Spoken Through Clay