Stephen Procter

Founder & Master Potter

A chance encounter with clay changed the course of my life. Before becoming an artist, I was a professional classical guitarist. The transition was surprisingly seamless, for the essential elements of music—flow, rhythm, growth, balance—are the same elements of satisfying physical form. As a musician, I shaped curves in sound and time; as a ceramicist, I shape them in clay and space. The underlying impulse, the reach for beauty and transceneance, remains the same.

Over three decades in clay, I’ve been honored to see my work included in leading art fairs, museum shows, and private collections across the U.S. In 2024, a full-page article about my work in The New York Times enabled me to expand my workshop and find new collectors nationwide.

I live and work in southeastern Vermont, where the rhythms of the landscape and the seasons inspire my craft. Whether shaping clay or tending the kiln, I’m always seeking that eloquent gesture—the one that speaks to the spirit and brings form to life.

Why Large Vessels?

I am drawn to good large pots by their animate presence. As physical objects, they evoke a visceral response in viewers and impart new significance to the spaces they occupy. My artistic practice is an investigation—a quest to understand how scale, curve, and volume move us. How is it that the slightest alteration can make the difference between a gesture that lifts the veil and one that is lifeless? I hope to share the tranquility, awe, and joy that these vessels evoke in me.

From the outset, in my late thirties, I knew I wanted to throw big. Without a mentor, I relied on years of experimentation, research, and countless failures to develop the techniques that allow me to create the work I make today. The vessels have a quality of presence that comforts, uplifts, and inspires—and rewards the effort and devotion required to make them.

The silhouettes and material of my pieces recall millennia of utilitarian vessel-making, while their scale and generous curves suggest organic and human sculptural form. I seek to unite the spirit and vigor of ancient sources with my own contemporary sensibility.

How are they made?

I build large pieces in many stages. Although I work on a potter’s wheel, my approach is essentially sculptural: Beginning with a rough idea of scale and mood, the details of form and decoration arise through an improvisational dance that unfolds section by section as the piece finds its way to completion.

After many days of building and a week or more of drying, I load the vessels into my custom-built kiln and fire them in a day-long process. After two days of cooling, I have the thrill of seeing how (and if!) they fared through the extreme stresses of transformation by fire.

Thank you for your support of my work!