ELISABETH MAURLAND
Feathered Bird Platter, white stoneware clay, colored slips, glaze, 17"

Elisabeth Maurland is an award winning potter based in Decorah, Iowa.  She earned her BA from Luther College and her MA from Illinois State University.  Her work has been exhibited throughout the country and it is included in the collections of Culver Academies, the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.

"I use white stoneware clay, which I shape on a potter's wheel, let dry, and then use brushes to apply colored slips (liquid clay), and wax resist.  I also use a sharp, carbide point to etch thin lines into the unfired pot.  I then bisque fire, dip or pour on a clear glaze, and fire again to cone 6 (2297°F).

I was born and raised on the southern coast of Norway, and my work is deeply influenced by the natural surroundings of my childhood.  The sea, the mountains, and the forest contain life that have become vessels for my expression throughout my artistic career.  The birds, the fish, and the animals move fast, light-footed, upward, outward, sometimes right off the pot.  The bright colors and the light weight and simple lines of the pots themselves complete the picture of the joy I feel about the world around me, wherever I am."

Elisabeth Maurland's website