My Story

I started my career as educator. I graduated from Illinois State University in 2012 with a BS in Art Education and a BFA in Sculpture, though I started my BFA in Ceramics. I have been teaching for the past seven years and currently teach Ceramics at a public high school in Illinois.

 

"Ceramic Jim" started as a YouTube channel in March of 2018. Its original purpose was to provide support and enrichment opportunities for my Ceramics students but as my passion for video grew, I rediscovered my first love: Ceramics. The channel became my own personal pottery documentary and video library. Fast forward two years. The channel is approaching 10,000 subscribers, I have a fully functioning home studio, and I have slowly fine tuned my practice in order to start selling collections of work.

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I specialize in colored porcelain. I discovered colored clay at the beginning of my YouTube journey, and since then I have been documenting ways to make it. I use a very white porcelain recipe I've developed over the last year that allows my colors to be as bright and vivid as possible. Agateware and nerikomi are two processes that employ the use of different colored clays. While there are similarities between the two, agateware is typically created by folding or wedging different colored clays together before throwing it on a pottery wheel. The result is a swirling or marbling effect from the wheel spinning and stretching the clay. Nerikomi usually involves stacking different colored sheets or long tube-shaped pieces of clay to form a block. The block is then cut into slices with the cross sections revealing intricate designs. It is a tedious yet rewarding process of which I will never tire.

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I am not a full-time studio potter. As a teacher, coach, husband, and father of two beautiful daughters, finding a balance to include "potter" is difficult. However, that balance has taught me the value of time, and when I am making pots, I do so with intent and precision. Any time spent in the studio MUST result in something of value. That's my driving force for producing quality work of which I am proud.

 

-Jim Fazio