Alex Olson Arts LLC



Alex Olson Arts LLC

About The Artist

Alex Olson • Brooklyn, NY
Ceramics • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

My artwork is driven by my curiosity about the rhythms of the natural world and the intersections of landscape and home. Each piece is thrown on the wheel, faceted, and textured using found objects, leaving imprints of place and a tactile quality that encourages mindfulness during daily routines and rituals. In making my work, I consider how experiences in nature stay with us in transformative ways—and how we hold on to those experiences by bringing elements of the natural world into our homes.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

All my pottery is first thrown on the wheel. I carve each piece using a wire tool and a sharp fettling knife, and smooth all surfaces and edges using the pads of my fingers. I add texture by pressing found objects such as shells and stones into the form’s softer and thicker portions. Designing each piece is a playful and intuitive process in which I create compositions with facets, textures, and converging surfaces. I primarily fire my work in wood kilns and electric kilns.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I love clay’s malleability and responsiveness, which enhances creative flexibility and enables an immersive sensory experience in the studio. I enjoy witnessing the material change and appreciate the physicality, attention, and patience required at each step of the making process. It’s remarkable to me how such a pliable material can be transformed into beautiful and functional art objects that can help encourage presence during moments of solitude or connection.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

Woodturning bowls and hollow vessels was my first love and primary medium until I took my first ceramics class in 2016. Embracing the elemental process of woodfiring in my ceramics practice allows me to use the material of wood in a whole new way. The collaborative dance with the kiln, wood, flame, and air adds complexity to the faceted surfaces of my pots—melted wood ash and flashing marks create textures and gradients of color that mimic patterns in nature.