Member Interview
Sally Jo Dinwoodie
Hello there! I’m Sally Jo Dinwoodie
What’s your everyday occupation? I own and run (with my oldest son) a landscape services company.
How did your everyday occupation and being a mom influence or inspire your ceramic work? The natural world inspires me — the forms, colors, combinations, how it evolves continuously. Perhaps the most important influence being a mother of three gave me in terms of my ceramic work is a strong measure of patience, the ability to allow "things" to grow and develop naturally and, with that, strength.
How would you describe your work? Intuitive, yet planned. Currently I’m focusing on high-fire porcelain and attempting to achieve that all illusive character of translucency. I throw then alter, impress, carve, and water resist to trying to achieve my vision. I also do some slip casting using custom-colored slip and molds I produced. I sometimes paint with underglazes and colored slips, carve and/or alter these pieces too. Seems I can't just leave something alone!
You and your husband have an extensive background in ceramics, especially having both worked for Arcosanti in Arizona. You also spent time working at Heath Ceramics. Do you mind sharing your clay journey, and telling us how it all started? My first exposure to clay was in a high school art class. The minute I touched clay I was hooked! Then during my brief time in college, I took any ceramics classes available — there weren’t many at the time. Eventually I ended up in SF and spent every penny and every minute I was not working taking classes in ceramics to learn as much as I could. There was LOTS of naturally sourced clay in SF in the 70's, so I was very happy!!
When I went to Arcosanti I actually, (crazy true story) hitchhiked from the east coast with a bag of clay in my small rucksack because I was not going to give up clay. Fortunately not too long after I arrived Haystack Mountain did a satellite workshop series that summer, I was able to continue to explore the use of the kilns and equipments which was left behind after the program ended. I was fortunate to be taken on by Richard Johnson as his assistant who mentored me in those early years. One of the tasks I was given was to throw and fire the tableware for farm-to-table Café at Arcosanti designed by Richard.
In my early tenure at Arcosanti the traditional slip cast bell making was not yet done at the site; all of it was done in Scottsdale at Cosanti by Maria Soleri.
Eventually a second studio for slip casting the Soleri Bells was set up at Arcosanti, and I was hired as a slip casting artisan. (Later I took on the manager role). We hand dug the clay in Superior, Arizona, twice a year, brought it back to Arcosanti, and then turned in into casting slip which we cast into plaster or silt molds.
After the bells were demolded, they were hand carved then fired in a heavy reduction firing. Beth Corwin, my friend and mentor, and manager of the Cosanti Studio at Arcosanti, came up with the idea of making tiles, so we branched out into producing utilitarian tiles for the spaces at the site as well as decorative tiles. I introduced hanging cast planters. Both products are still made and sold at Arcosanti and Cosanti today!
What was the first memorable clay piece you made? Although it was not my first piece — I still have a piece or two from high school — it was/is a piece that felt significant, a pinch pot that I made in Arizona when I was first there. It was the first time I intentionally allowed the surface of the clay to crack as a design element. At the time it felt so daring, the act of going with my whim, breaking "rules" just to "see."
Are you on team hand building, wheel throwing or slip casting? I enjoy it all, although right now I’m focusing primarily on throwing and slip casting. I recently took two classes at The Potters’ Studio with Daniel Clausen and had a blast hand building body-inspired sculptures.
What inspires you the most, form, glaze, or firing? Form is very much most important to me; it all starts with the shape for me.
What’s a piece of advice for working in ceramics that helped you a lot? Live with your work (to understand it on many levels). Practice. Practice, practice. Seek out inspiration.
Who are some artists you admire? Initially: Bernard Leach, Ken Ferguson, Richard Johnson, (my first mentor), Beth Corwin. And my second mentor, Edith Heath, for all she had to go through and all that she achieved against all odds, as well as her amazing forms! More recently: Antoinette Badenhurst, Jennifer McCurdy.
What is your favorite practice to be a green potter (eco-conscious and environmentally friendly)? Recycling. Water, wet clay trimmings — I re-wedge and re-use. Dry trimmings are turned into porcelain casting slip.
How do you deal with being in a creative rut? Just let it be. Understand it's part of the cycle. Relax and do something I Iove, like a walk along the Bay Trail or in the woods. Watch birds, look at art books. Mainly, allow the cycle to come back around. For me, worry only gets in the way, so I try to do things to support my right brain while it recharges.
Interview article and photography by Inhae Lee