Mary Jean Kelso/Nevada Appeal News Service Joe Winter, a museum-quality potter from Red Rock, joined other local artists Feb. 7 at the Mirage Garden and Gifts to display his unusual pottery. Winter uses clay and glazes that are sometimes mixed with local crushed rock to produce unusual textures and colorings.
By MARY JEAN KELSO
Nevada Appeal News Service
Nevada artist Joe Winter joined other artists Feb. 7, including several from The Artists Guild of Fernley, to display his work at Mirage Garden and Gifts.
Winter's display included a variety of oversized, colorful vases created with bright glazes including some with local, crushed feldspar rock in the glaze and clay. Four different types of firing processes were represented including raku-fired, wood-fired, salt-fired and gas-fired. An electric kiln is used to fire the bisque, and a brick kiln completes the firings.
"With gas and wood you get more interaction between the fuel and the glaze," Winter explained. "With the feldspar you get a wide range of effects. I like the natural look."
Duplicating the exact same vase twice is nearly impossible, and some of them are just "happy surprises," he said.
Throwing clay on a potter's wheel became a fun activity for Winter when he was 11 years old and attended a College for Kids Class in Wisconsin.
"There wasn't time to use the wheels during the class, but the professor let me come back and play on the wheels later," Winter said, crediting the class and the professor for sparking his interest in what his now his longtime career.
Winter started serious training as a potter in 1979. He then went on to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Arizona University and his Masters of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University in North Carolina.
Winter designs pieces in a multitude of sizes including 6- and 7-foot-tall architectural-size art. He is one of few potters to create such large pieces.
He works out of his studio in the Red Rock area and shows his professional quality designs at various galleries including the Artists Co-op of Reno and the Nevada Museum of Art, as well as at his own location during open studio presentations twice a year.
Photos of some of Winter's work can be viewed on his Web site at www.joewinterpottery.com.
For information on commissioned pieces, gallery showings or private studio showings, contact Winter at 775-969-3394.