In 2005, in the middle of a ceramic hand building class at Oakland Community College, I had what can only be described as a visionary experience while in the presence of a hand coiled, unsmoothed teapot that a classmate had created. When I saw it, my head was filled with images of coils and the infinite potential in the various patterns and forms I saw. This kind of thing is not normal to me—I knew I would be dedicating my life to coiling. A housepainter by trade, my mind and body were already in tune with processes that others might consider tedious, repetitive or mundane. In 2011 I moved to Santa Fe New Mexico with my wife, Esther Smith, owner of Influx Ceramics. We currently share a studio together next door to Meow Wolf and I work at Santa Fe Community College as the ceramics technician and adjunct faculty. I’m also the inventor of geltron3000, the world’s first analog 3-D printing robot. See what I’m up to on instagram:
Erik H Gellert 