american artist
Melanie Liotta
Stoneware pottery
Melanie has been in love with clay since 1969
when she took her first pottery class in college.
As an art major, she was required to be proficient
in all areas of art, but once Melanie started
creating in clay, she knew that she would be
a potter. Nothing in her life had affected her
as powerfully as making pots has, particularly
throwing on a potters’ wheel, making beautiful
and well-designed pots to be used and cherished
in the home.
Melanie is attracted to overall patterns and
loves to carve and make impressions covering
the entire pot. She also loves color and is very
influenced by folk art, especially from Central
and South America. Melanie’s signature pieces
use intensely colored underglazes over a deepred stoneware clay which she carves through
to reveal the dark clay. This is a technique
called sgraffito and has been used by potters for
centuries.