Lindsay Rogers is a studio potter and educator living in Johnson City, TN.

She received her BA in printmaking from Sarah Lawrence College and a MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida. She was an artist in residence at Natchez Clay from 2005-2007 and at the Energy Exchange in Burnsville, NC from 2007-2010. Her work and writing has been featured in several books and publications including Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine and Martha Stewart Living.

Lindsay has taught at Haywood Community College and Mars Hill University, both in North Carolina. She is currently the ceramics coordinator for Arrowmont’s annual Pentaculum and is Assistant Professor of Ceramics at East Tennessee State University.

A food lover and advocate of the slow food movement, Lindsay has long pursued the relationship between food and the vessels made to serve it. In today’s contemporary world of fast food and disposable tableware, Lindsay actively considers how each vessel that she makes will be used, how it will present a meal or be used in service. It is her belief that the pot is the best vehicle to help reconnect each of us to each other and also to the food that we prepare and eat. This desire to provide connection has led to multiple collaborations with chefs, farmers and restaurants.

This search for connection extends to all aspects of her artistic practice. Lindsay digs clay from her community and works this together with other materials to provide the texture and color of the clay that she desires. By using local materials, she is able to provide another layer of connection to the community in which she lives and works.

Lindsay’s work is stark in its contrast. Her forms are beautiful in their simplicity. The subtle texture across the surface of each piece adds another level to ponder, to wonder at the sense of age that this imparts. The use of white slips on a dark clay body contrasts each other while also creating a beautiful counter to the presentation of a well prepared meal. When you look at a set of Lindsay’s plates your first thought is that the white slip has been poured or dripped onto the surface, however these patterns are planned and cut out to create the right balance of positive and negative space. Viewed as individual pieces, the work stands alone as an abstracted canvas reminiscent of a Motherwell painting. Yet when viewed together as you might see at a dinner party the patterns blend and shift creating new visual narratives, new abstractions encouraging the viewer to slow down and enjoy.

Her belief in the relationship between food and the vessel directly reflect the defining convictions of the founders of Southern Crossings Pottery Festival and we are looking forward to her being with us for the first time this year.

To see more of Lindsay’s work visit www.lindsayrogersceramics.com