Meet Artisan Market Artist Joel Shoemaker!

Joel Shoemaker, ceramist from Lansing, IA will have his Sgraffito designed, a favorite technique of his work, at VIVA’s 10th Anniversary Artisan Market. 

Joel of Growen Hill Arts shares a bit of his biography:

My wife and I met in the Pot Shop at the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL, in 1971. Becky Kobos was an Art Ed major and I had an Art Ed minor. Taking ceramics from different instructors during the same semester, we fell in love. And we discovered that while I liked throwing on the wheel, she preferred to hand-build. We pursued careers in public school teaching as we raised our two boys, but hauled along the potter's wheel I had bought from a friend in 1974, saying that someday, when we retired, maybe we could make pots together--I could throw, and Becky, a fiber artist, could focus on surface design and hand-building. Remarkably, this dream has come to fruition and is working for us! Our tasks are not so distinctly delineated any more as we both grow creatively and experiment, but we collaborate well and fully, each bringing something to the process. Hope you enjoy our work!

Joel describes his work and process:

My wife, Becky Kobos, and I collaborate on many of the ceramic pieces I make. I like to throw, she does not. Using a stoneware clay body, I throw a variety of forms including vases, bowls, mugs, and sculptural pieces. Becky often contributes surface decoration or other design details. One of our favorite techniques is sgraffito in which a black or colored slip is painted on a piece of greenware (not yet dried for firing) and then carved so the color of the clay is revealed in the lines.
Clear glaze is then sprayed onto the piece and it is refired.