Please tell us about your work.
I started out doing more sculptural work using clay and found objects. I moved my ceramic practice to a more functional place but using many of the principles and concepts I applied to my sculptural work. I think of my work as small photographs, assembled from random still-lifes of objects, scenarios, curios and iconic images, impressed into clay. They tell a story, that becomes personal for each user. Capturing images and applying them to clay enables me to create small tableaus of juxtapositions and directed randomness. It all becomes permanently recorded on my rustic yet refined and contemporary tableware.
It is hand-formed tableware made in small to large plate, platter and bowl sizes. The tableware is slab-constructed and made from dark, rich clays using high and low fired glaze finishes. They incorporate impressed vintage and found object imagery with hand-etched detailing. Recurring iconic imagery, drawn from the urban and natural world, reflect my daily observations, often first captured in photos and then transcribed onto raw clay—sometimes literal, often abstracted.
When did you first come to New Mexico and what brought you here?
I first came to New Mexico in 1986 to visit a great friend who moved to Albuquerque after college. I immediately fell in love with NM and kept returning. I spent several years working as a camp cook for an anthropologist friend who was running field trips out of NYC, and we traversed northern New Mexico, exploring obscure areas and learning about and experiencing Native American traditions and rituals.
When I had my kids in the mid-90’s, I used to bring them out to Ghost Ranch every summer where they participated in camps while I took classes in Raku pottery. During that time, we purchased some land across from Abiquiu Lake and held onto that until we finally were able to build a house on it last year. In addition, three years ago, we purchased a 125 year old adobe house on the historic Eastside in Santa Fe that needed some TLC that we have been fixing up.
What makes it special for you?
All the known things for sure: the light, the tri-culture combination, the history, the food, the way it feels like you are somewhere out of this world, but you are just right here. I feel like I am traveling to a unique new place every time I am here. There are always new places to discover, new stories to hear, new history to learn, it is dynamic and unlike anywhere else in the US.
How does New Mexico inform and influence your work?
The ancient traditions of ceramics that exist here have influenced my work from the beginning. The idea that pottery was functional yet also artistic is very important – “functional art” and that this was passed on through generations and remains a very important expression of talent, family and cultural fluidity. I really like to make utilitarian wares that surprise with their design and stories…This is not a new concept.
I like to use a lot of found objects to create texture and context. I love scavenging the desert floors as well as flea markets and junk stores here for inspiration. Of course the striated visions of the canyon walls and the spires as you drive up to Abiquiu from Santa Fe are not only stunning but endless inspiration for color and form. I like to collect and record all of my findings in small bags that I use in my clay work – this may include rusted discarded objects, rocks, sticks, dried plants, pods and berries and anything else that comes along. It reminds me of where I have been and who has come before me.
How can people find you and your work?
My new studio is in the metal barn behind Bodes General Store in Abiquiu – open by appointment. Tableware can be custom ordered directly from me: lisa@lneimeth.com or ready to ship through my retail partners listed on my website:
www.lneimeth.com
