John Ross

     John started his pottery career as a senior at Lake Oswego High School near Portland, OR in the 1980s. As he recalls, “my father said if I kept a 3.0 GPA, I could do what I wanted. Despite never having any exposure or interest in pottery, I chose it as my elective because I thought it was impossible to flunk and thus unlikely to hinder my leisure time freedom. Not the most robust rationale, but fortunately it worked out.” From the first class, he was hooked and continued to work with clay on his own, at the Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center on Maui, and as a production potter at Classic Clay Concepts in Tualatin, OR. During his five years as a production potter, he honed his technical throwing skills becoming much more efficient while at the same time creating pieces outside of work and building his first kiln. 40 years and a few jobs later, John made the leap to full-time ‘pottering’.

     “I primarily make functional pieces including food & beverage ware as well as various sizes and styles of planters, the latter as evidence of my time as a production potter; I continue to explore the production forms I used to create but work to add a more organic look and feel. To this point, I’ve explored and developed certain styles of hanging planters that presented significant engineering challenges. Such challenges are a large part of what attracts me to working with clay and despite the number of years I’ve been doing it, I’m still excited and energized every time I open the kiln.”