QUICK FACTS

How many years have you been working as a clay artist? 15 yrs.

What is your main clay body that you currently use? High fire porcelain, often tom colemans recipe but I am currently trying out Georgie's ceramic supplies' Crystal Springs porcelain.

What is the primary method you use for building your work? coiled and pinching

What is your favorite studio tool? a needle tool

ARTIST STATEMENT

Clay excites me for its immediate and direct response to touch as I coil and pinch layers of porcelain to create pieces imbued with the intimacy of the finger-marked surface. The objects I create use the vessel as a metaphor for the body, sometimes inverting and challenging the distinction between the interior or exterior.

I encourage the objects to morph and change as I create them, developing a language of improvisation that gives form to a stream of consciousness approach to making. I am interested in how a clay form can capture and imply movement. Clay holds these spontaneous moments as well as the rhythm of the process. The fingermarks never cease throughout the pot and the glazes I use enhance this captured movement. I strive for the vessels to feel alive, as if they are still in motion. 

Gestation and rhythm are some of the traits a ceramic thing can hold. Repeated gestures on the surface of a pot can make a still object retain life. The breath of the vessel is so wonderful in part because it defies the nature of the role we’re taught objects occupy in our world. The vessel is inherently fertile, it gives new life continually, engages us to the point of wondering where it is going next, the eyes it will reach, how its form will change as the sun comes down. I strive to create objects that perpetuate this vibrancy.

BIOGRAPHY

BORN: USA

Lily Fein makes coil-built porcelain vessels that capture and imply movement. The objects morph and change as she creates them, developing a language of improvisation that gives form to a stream of consciousness approach to making. The clay holds these spontaneous moments balanced by the rhythm of the process. The fingermarks never cease throughout the pot and the glazes enhance this captured movement. 

Fein grew up in Massachusetts and received her BFA from Syracuse University. She has since gone on to participate in various residencies in the United States including The Archie Bray Foundation, Northern Clay Center, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Craigardan, Project Art, and The New Harmony Clay Project. She currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana where she plays in a couple of bands and makes her porcelain vessels.