Genie Swanstrom | Ceramic
Genie is inspired by nature, by its raw beauty, its power, creativity and poetic spirituality. Some of her pieces express the power and movement of the elements, while others may reflect the serene simplicity of a stand of bamboo. She is concerned with the balance of positive and negative space, creating an elegance of line, form and design. The imagery on her work has a symbolic significance for her, a deep personal meaning, but in everything she aims for beauty.
Genie throws and/or hand-builds each piece of art by hand and often carves into the surface, creating a high relief of texture. Genie also loves to use slip to create movement on her pieces. The slip takes a deft hand to apply; it seems like it has a mind of it’s own, but that often makes for a wonderful serendipity in the piece. She spends a lot of time glazing her work, layering oxides, stains and multiple glazes to get a rich, luscious surface. Genie loves experimenting with new techniques and new glazes. She has an interest in both high fire porcelain and low fire majolica work and her style is slightly different in each genre. She is always searching for that perfect vessel of expression. Making art is a journey of discovery.