“With cooking being one of my greatest pleasures, it is not complete without the perfect dish for display or to eat from. Eating should be enjoyed and there is nothing quite like placing purple beets on a robin’s egg blue dish. The whole package is a work of art.”

 

 

 

So says Elizabeth Benotti, a ceramicist based in Massachusetts, where she also currently works as a gardener. Originally from Massachusetts, she has made several moves between there, Colorado and California – first to study Ceramics in Boulder, she was then accepted into the Resident Artists program at the Mendocino Art Center on the northern coast of California.

 

 

 

Elizabeth’s work is typified by clean, basic forms which are decorated with delicate yet graphic linework, and finished with uncomplicated colours. She makes most of her own glazes, and builds her forms through the the traditional techniques of slipcasting, handbuilding and wheelthrowing.

“Working with clay serves as my meditative process in life. It grounds me and it is gratifying to create something solid from a mixture of earth. With my ceramics I explore the relationships between color, image and form. I manipulate clay into sculptural objects as well as everyday functional ware. We take for granted the vessels that hold the essential as well as pleasurable liquids we drink along with the plates and bowls that act as a carrier for our meals we create. It is important to surround ourselves with objects that can be cared for and that can tell a story.”

 

You can find more of her work in her Etsy shop here, or on her own site, www.elizabethbenotti.com