Marietta Theodorou-LeMieux



Marietta Theodorou-LeMieux

About The Artist

Minneapolis, MN
Ceramics

My work results from both my 8th generations' Greek family pottery tradition and my own life in the USA. The bottle form has been used to hold perfume and/or tears in ancient times. I enlarged its size and finished it with various lustrous glazes that remind me of dragonfly wings. I also make work that my late father taught me as a child. Large wheel thrown plate forms, carved with complex interwoven naturalistic stylized designs in a circular infinite motion and surrounding symmetrical borders.



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Q&A

Tell us how your work is made.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I feel that I was rightfully born into my 8th generations' pottery family, since I love my work so much. I often say as a joke that "I have clay running in my veins". I also love the smell of a wood burning kiln, since it reminds me of my careless childhood years, playing in the pottery yard with my friends. Pottery represents my life, and is continuously inspiring. And while I am honoring my heritage, I am also having a lot of fun discovering how much more there is to learn!

What is something unique about you or your practice?

What always surprises people is my throwing posture and my throwing method. I throw on a traditional Greek wheel, on which the potter sits to the side of the wheel and leans against the wall for additional leverage. This Mediterranean wheel makes you use all your body, almost like a meditative dancing with the clay, and allows for making bigger pots easier and quicker.