Artist Statement:

Nature and purpose: these are the two guiding principals in my work.

The flowing blue water from the White Mountains to the Seacoast as well as the robust reds of our New Hampshire autumns are captured in my vessels. The natural tones I favor seem well suited to the principals I follow. The Shaker’s attention to utility inspires me to focus on the purpose of every pot.

I strive for creations that are both pleasing to the eye and comfortable to the hand.

Michael Gibbons Bio:

I attended Rindge Technical High School in Cambridge, Ma. where I studied cabinet making. After graduating in 1977, I worked as an apprentice for a year before attending Fitchburg State College as an Industrial Arts/ Elementary Education major. While there, I discovered clay at the school’s craft center. With a lot of help from a friend, who had experience with pottery, I became hooked.  After graduating, I took a job teaching woodworking and ceramics at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.

From 1985 to 1998 I taught Industrial Arts at Sanborn Regional Middle School in Newton, NH.

During this period I rented studio space before building my own in 1996. I left teaching in 1998. I stayed home with my kids and worked evenings and weekends as a cabinetmaker and potter.

In 2012, I juried into The League of NH Craftsmen. 

My work has evolved over the years with a focus on function and nature. Upon visiting Canterbury Shaker Village many years ago, my attention to function and utility was reinforced by the way the Shakers paid attention to details that not only made their work beautiful, but more importantly functional. (furniture, carpentry, fiber, brooms etc.)

I’m constantly exploring new ideas with form and decoration second only to function and utility.

I’m most satisfied when a customer tells me how much they enjoy using the pottery I make.