Red Dirt Clayworks is the ceramic work of Amber Riordan. All work is handmade by the artist.
Artist Bio
Amber Riordan is a ceramic artist who was born and raised in California. She did production work for potters in Arizona and California before graduating from Humboldt State University in 2008 with degrees in Studio Art and Wildland Soil Science. Riordan worked in soils for over a decade before leaving to pursue her passion for working with clay. Her work has been included in exhibitions including “Sip: A Ceramic Cup Show” at Ology Gallery in Savannah, Georgia; “Winter Warmers Cup Show” at Good Earth Pottery in Bellingham, Washington; and “Clay and Fiber” at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. Riordan currently lives and works on California’s North Coast.
Artist Statement
I have a fondness for functional ceramics. There is a special relationship between a person and their favorite mug. My work combines the intimacy of handheld ceramics with wide open landscapes to communicate connection and solitude.
I use red clay to form mugs and ground landscapes. Red clay also references the years I spent mapping soils in the American Southwest. I learned to read soils and their landscapes. They tell stories of how the landscape formed. I paint landscapes onto paper then transfer those paintings onto clay. This process gently distorts the images and gives them a weathered, dreamlike look. Us humans are part of the story of these places, as represented in my work by telephone poles, crosses and mine tailings in my landscapes.
I use pottery to convey our relationship with the landscape, our place in the stories landscapes tell. Clay connects us to the soil and to the land. And it can connect us to each other in times of solitude. My fingerprints are in the raw clay handles, when you hold them, you hold my fingerprints.
