Donna Aldred

My love for gardening and nature inspire much of my design aspects. The clay body I use is earthenware and the work combines a variety of techniques. These can be throwing on the wheel, slab rolling, slip casting, press molding and hand building. I frequently make small molds of the seasonal elements growing in my garden and shape and carve them to embellish my piece. My color pallet is the rich jewel tones I love and I make many of my majolica style glazes. I layer colors to get depth and do multiple firings for the final result. The crazing in the glazes is part of the design and does not affect the durability of the work. All the glazes are food safe.

My love of ceramics began in 1976 after finishing dental school at Baylor College of Dentistry. Starting as a hobby I designed and painted tile murals for myself and friends. After practicing dentistry for 21 years I retired to devote full time to my love of ceramics. I took formal training at SMU and University of Dallas and continue to take classes and workshops. I will be a life long student.

I do not want my functional pieces to be too precious, but to evoke rustic fantasy ware. These elaborate “over the top” designs are to be used on the table. They are meant to celebrate the magic events in our lives, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays as well as used daily. Every time I open the kiln it feels like Christmas morning and that is what I want to share.