I am a vessel maker. The vessel is my structure, my canvas – an empty page waiting to be filled. A field recorder of sorts, I attempt to synthesize my daily experiences through written word on anthropomorphized pots. These stories range from the mundane to the unworldly, from punk rock dive bars to a 10th century castle – anything and everything has a story that I feel the need/duty to share with future humans.

I dress my pieces like sauce on BBQ. The sauce sets the backdrop for the staged piece. After this the Rorschach test begins. Do I address daily fears of how to maneuver an international pandemic? Or discuss my father’s 10 year battle with Alzheimer’s? What about that time the sandwich at the bodega made me hurl? The decisions of how to capture the essence of occurrences begin to flow naturally with a freestyle-like response – both formally and written. Each individual piece becomes a memento of the daily grind – recorded with no filter. All cloud.

Whether I work intimately with a cup, transition to a larger coil vessel or throw 100 plates, the end result for each work is always the same. Momentary reflections conveyed through pottery that gives a snippet of humanness, both told and implied.

Bio:  

Paul Maloney is a ceramic artist born in Houston, Texas. They attended the University of Georgia, completing a Bachelor degree in both Art History and Ceramics. Later they would attain an MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University – Bloomington. Paul has made work all throughout the United States, having opportunities at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio, Penland School of Crafts, The Bascom: A Center for Visual Arts, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Belger Crane Yard Studios. Paul now resides in Kansas City, Missouri and is showing work throughout the United States of America and abroad.