About
My name is Steve Laurence. Welcome to my site. I’ve worked as a Raku potter since 1984 but it’s still been one of the most unexpected surprises of my life. I started out as a graphic artist/calligrapher and had a company called Art Tech in Toronto for many years. When my parents passed away in the mid eighties, I took up pottery on weekends as an escape and I was so awful at it that it was an excellent distraction while I healed. My interest had a focus though. I have been drawn to Japanese design and Buddhist philosophy long before art college. So I was interested in making Soba bowls when I took up pottery. Through sheer frustration I kept at it for two years before I finally made a bowl that came close to my goal. If I made one bowl, there may be more in there, I thought, and so there were. Production pottery was never of interest to me as the world seems ready to collapse beneath the weight of casseroles, but Raku seemed intriguing. The life and work of Shoji Hamada was my major inspiration although my work resembles his in no way whatsoever. It was a spirit in his work that I hoped to be able to infuse in my pottery one day. A few mavericks have indeed had this ineffable quality.
My work and glazes all have a common thread that has changed over the years yet is still from the same tree. It’s been a remarkable experience watching these vessels come along. Some of my best glazes were sheer accidents that I isolated and analyzed until they were repeatable. Over time pottery eclipsed my graphic work and became my love and occupation. Naked Raku is a new avenue for me that took a lot of experimenting with until I was happy with the results.
I’ve had several solo shows and collaborative exhibitions with other artists and published some articles on the mysterious nature of creativity. They’re here if you’re interested along with a longer duller C.V. What I really wanted was a site that was visual, so have a look around and please drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.