About

Erin Mahoney Patterson  *  Green Toad Studio

Run your hands over the textures on the side of a mug, and imagine you are on the beach.  Gaze into the layered glassy colors or swirled surfaces and picture waves crashing onto the shore, or the sky streaked with clouds.  Hear bees buzzing softly as they busily pollinate a field of flowers.  I hope to bring you these experiences through my work, a moment captured from the outside world, pulled from my memory and preserved in your hands.

I love experimenting with new materials and designs, which can result in a varied collection of work.  But each piece is tied back to the beauty, detail and unpredictability of nature that has shaped my childhood and blossomed in my artwork.

Most of my work begins on the pottery wheel, where I throw a base form.  Then I add small hand-sculpted details to create a more sculptural piece.  It is important to me that most of my work be functional, as this hearkens back to the original intent of pottery.  Some of my forms include vases, mugs and bowls, and my favorite form to create is a teapot.  I love the complexity of the form, and the challenge of making each part work together as a whole both visually and physically.  Occasionally I will create a self-indulgent sculptural piece with no function, and these serve as tangible representations of ideas I am working out that eventually make their way into a functional piece.

I am a ceramic and artist, a teacher, a wife and a mom.   I have a bachelor’s degree in Ceramics from the Massachusetts College of Art, and a Master’s in Art Education from Framingham State University. My full-time job is teaching high school art, and I teach private lessons for both children and adults.  I create my personal artwork out of a home studio in Reading MA which I have named Green Toad Studio.

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