Patrick Rivera

PotterMember Since 2004

I have studied and practiced various methods of pottery making since 2000.

Working primarily with the high fire process of gas reduction and wood fire, my work is predominantly functional ware, & is informed by personal events or situations, and by ceramicists that have influenced my life to this point.

Gay Smith, Maishe Dickman, David Frank, & Deb Staub, along with Tim Scull are my past instructors whose methods I draw from the most while forming my work. Larry Watson, Alice Schumacher, & Ryan Bothamley have helped me foster the freedom of a playful curiosity and whimsy I occasionally incorporate into my work. Playful curiosity and whimsy don’t come naturally to me.  

As a Key Member of Wesleyan Potters, there is availability and access to a broad range & influence of style, aesthetic, form, and process. There is no loss of abundant inspiration at Wesleyan Potters. My sense for placement of design elements and aesthetics have been nurtured by Pat Burke, Lyn Harper,  Linda Sershen, & Linda Staphos Wosczsyna.

The difficulty of the creative process exists in the time constraints of balancing a full-time career as an RN while remaining engaged with and inspired by the local arts community, membership at Wesleyan Potters, and maintaining a part-time pottery home studio.

 At present, I’m enjoying learning how to work with commercially prepared glazes and cone 6 oxidation while creating food-safe functional pottery. 

This limitation of my time with clay has inspired my mantra:

“It isn’t what I do for a living. It is what I do to live.”