Earthworks Pottery

We produce fully functional lines of dinnerware and serving pieces, in over 150 shapes and 36 stock patterns

Earthworks Pottery

Away back at the beginning of this pottery story, when I was working on my own, trying to work out how to put my art on a clay surface, going out to school and church fairs and anywhere else where I could have some visible impact…and maybe sell a few dollars worth of pots. I needed a sign of some sort to identify me and the work on the display table. It was then that I began to call myself “Earthworks: no ordinary pottery” because I was no way your ordinary potter.

As time has passed, those few words have become our signature, our catch phrase, who we are. Thirty years of use have made it our identity. No ordinary pottery is who Earthworks is and that is that. And we continue to work hard daily to keep the no ordinary-ness in tact.

Becoming No Ordinary Pottery is a story told in a simple narrative style. It is told in the same way that I, Goldie Spieler, speak when having a conversation. The telling was a lot like writing a letter to no one in particular but to everyone in general. There is no pretence at writing “great literature” but only the recounting of what, in retrospect, has been an extraordinary life, praise the Lord. It has become my pleasure to share it with you.

There are several layers to the person who chugged through the grunt work, who overcame the endless obstacles in the development from pure artist to pragmatic creative person. The watercolor painter with dreams of becoming recognized for works on paper still lives inside me and has been as productive as possible even during the growing of the business. Recent works can be viewed at earthworks-pottery.com/paintings . These are works done mostly during 2007 and then earthworks-pottery.com/paintings  is works done during 2008 and 2009. Almost all were done in Jerusalem where I seem to have more contemplative time for ink and watercolor. Earlier works (both painting and pottery) are in many private collections and written about in Art in Barbados. What Kind of Mirror Image? By Alissandra Cummins, Allison Thompson, and Nick Whittle published by Ian Randle, Jamaica.

In earlier years I worked diligently with needlepoint which then was my evening, relaxing time hobby, creating my own designs for myself mainly but also for others. The Agudath Israel Synagogue in Ottawa, Canada, where 2 large multiple canvassed tapestries that are hanging in their foyer. These have been written up in 3 books: Treasures of a People by Sheldon Levitt/Lynn Milstone/Sidney T Tenenbaum, Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd, Toronto, Canada, Art of the Spirit by Helen Bradfield/Joan Pringle/Judy Ridout, Dundurn Press, Toronto & Oxford, and Illuminating the Spirit by Barbara Crook/Malak, self-published by the Agudath Israel Synagogue, Ottawa, Canada.

Goldie Spieler

Becoming No Ordinary PotteryUS$ 24.99 - Buy online from Yeoman House Books

Hard cover | 274 pages | Color illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-9822659-3-2

Buy now!

or get your copy from Earthworks Pottery in Barbados