About the Artist

My name is Mandy Klauck and I am a potter and art educator who has been teaching art for the past 12 years. My teaching practice has taken me to schools in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Minnesota. I am currently the Assistant Professor of Art Education at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

STATEMENT OF PRACTICE

My work has always been an exploration of how the imperfect can be created and rendered to be exceptional.  I was trained as a production potter, but found the true enjoyment of my work was in taking production style pieces and reworking the surfaces and forms to a much more organic, spontaneous point.  Works of pottery require the hand of the artist to such a specific extent that human error, such as finger prints, drips, nail gouges etc. are inevitable. Complete control of a piece of pottery, like that of a production potter, can be stifling and you lose the immediacy and connection to the clay that one has to have in order to truly create a meaningful piece.  Thus, the nature of the form and decoration of my work reflects the organic, fluid quality of the maker and the medium itself. 

My process is that of embracing the mistakes and imperfections often associated with works of pottery and using that as the decorative approach itself.  Gouging out sections of slip in a hurried manner as it would have naturally occurred, and using that to inform an organic rhythmic heartbeat around the piece. Too loosely applying slip causing drips or uneven sections of application, that becomes the dimensional or architectural interest of an otherwise simple form.  Two contrasting clay bodies inadvertently get mixed together in your recycling process, throw it and trim it and see the stunning swirls and striations that these pieces create when they come together.  So much more powerful than they were apart.  The translucent nature of my glazing, and the simplistic forms, are all meant to draw emphasis to the organic, ephemeral slip application and decoration of the surface of my pieces.  Highlighting all, hiding none.

I have never been drawn to perfection.  The odd, interesting, all-encompassing clumsiness of life is where the true beauty lies.  My work is meant to be a cathartic process that allows myself to work past the idea of art as precious and to allow the users of my ware to enjoy the pieces, but not dismay at their inevitable breaking or ruin down the line.