Artist Interview - Forrest Lesch Middelton of FLM Ceramics

Well, tonight you are in for a real treat! Not only do you get to read about another of our fabulous artists, but you'll get to know the innovative and truly beautiful work of one talented North Bay ceramicist.

Tonight we are excited to introduce you to Forrest Lesch Middelton of FLM Ceramics (www.flmceramics.etsy.com) whose unusual designs and techniques produce striking and original works of functional art.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Living in Petaluma for the past year, and recently moving from Fairfax, California, I have developed a fondness for the North Bay that began in 2000.  While an artist in residence at the Mendocino Arts Center and dating my now wife who lived in Mill Valley, she introduced me to the area. In 1998 I graduated from Alfred University with a BFA with a focus in ceramics, and in 2006 I received an MFA from Utah State University. I have been a resident artist at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine and the Mendocino Arts Center. I currently direct the ceramics program at Sonoma Community Center and in 2007 developed its Artist in Residence program which focuses on ceramics.

What kind of artist are you, and what first drew you to that particular medium?

I am a ceramic artist focusing primarily on functional stoneware that employs a form of image transfer that I developed which allows me to add patterns to pots while they are being formed on the wheel. I have always loved clay. The feel of clay and its usefulness have always attracted me to it. Clay is found in every culture on the planet and to me that universality is a great place to find inspiration. I have been working with clay since age fourteen.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I teach ceramics in a number of area colleges and run the ceramics program at Sonoma Community Center. I teach ceramics workshops nationally and have a wonderful wife and two daughters who put up with all of my mud and dust! 

Who is your greatest creative influence?

These days my two greatest creative influences are15th and 16^th century Turkish ceramics, and contemporary war rugs of Afghanistan. As for the who, I would have to attribute that to the long list of great teachers I have had over my years of study in ceramics; from Val Cushing and Linda Sikora to John Neely.

Please describe your creative process.

I use printmaking processes to enhance the surfaces and aesthetic of handmade pottery. I fire my pots in a unique reduction-cooling atmosphere that gives the work an appearance akin to cast iron.

What handmade possession do you most cherish?

The handmade possession in my home that I most cherish is a quilt that my wife and I were given as a wedding present. I am not all together certain where, or when it is from. My best guess as to its origins is that it is from rural India.

What is it about living in the North Bay that most inspires your creativity?

It is hard not to credit the local landscape here, although I do not make work that in any way references landscape. Hikes and drives around the North Bay do however get the creative juices flowing!

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Hopefully teaching full time at a college or university and making artwork that is still fresh and intriguing to me and others.