Traudi Thornton dips a handmade stoneware mug in glaze. 44 WBM december 2014 After training at Creighton, the University of Nebraska Omaha and moving back to Germany, Thornton relocated to Wilmington in 1983. Thornton wakes precisely at 4 am to work a few hours before her rescue dog, Silas, and cat interfere with her productivity. “I don’t like to rush or anything, I like to take my time and do it properly,” she says. “If I got up at 6 am the dog would get up and then he would pester me, and then the cat would come home from whatever he does out there.” One of the aspects of pottery that appeals to Thornton is controlling each step of the process, mixing dry clay, flint, feldspar and kaolin with water. “You can control everything from start to finish. I mix my own clay, but you have to be accurate because one percent of too much throws it off,” she says. Thornton’s studio is filled with pieces in every stage of completion, waiting for either another coat of glaze or firing. The Raku pieces are fired at 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, the stoneware pieces at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Standing among a field of her finished work, she picks up a few of the larger bowls to tap the rims, filling the room with a melodic tone not unlike the church bells that ring regularly throughout her neighborhood. “The rim holds the whole thing together and they all make different sounds,” Thornton says. “Bells are actually fashioned in a similar way … they are like a gigan-tic bowl.” In addition to the bowls, rows of mugs, plates, serving dishes, teapots and teacups populate the space, each different in some way, whether it be a slight color variation or manipulation of the shape. Standing among her work, Thornton reflects on how she thought about becoming a metalsmith at one point, but preferred the medium of soft clay she can manipulate and build to construct any shape she wants. Like Kalina with wood, Thornton was also drawn to her craft by the renewable and seem-ingly unlimited supply of the naturally occurring elements of clay. “I always liked nature, I always liked solitude and I always liked soft things,” she says. “I was never good at being told what to do. One thing you can do as an artist is you can choose what you want to do and it is best when you have that choice.” Sitting in front of a collection of her Raku pottery, Thornton holds one of her handmade stoneware bowls.
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