Betsy Williams
Dixon, NM
The Blues
ceramic; wood
16" x 16" x 2.5"
2022
About
Born and raised in rural Georgia, I was drawn by a love of books to St. John’s College, the “Great Books School” in Santa Fe. After graduating, I moved to NY, where I was trained as a money market trader at a Japanese bank. My co-workers introduced me to the world of Japanese ceramics, and a show of 17th century celadons at the Metropolitan Museum of Art changed my life. Attending evening classes at a nearby Japanese pottery studio while working full-time at the bank, a dream began to materialize. After five years I left my job in New York to seek out an apprenticeship in Japan. I studied with Mr. Yutaka Ohashi of Karatsu, Japan for almost five years. Upon completing my apprenticeship, I returned to New Mexico to buy land and set up my studio. I met my husband, stone sculptor Mark Saxe, and together we opened Rift Gallery in Rinconada. The unidentified maker of the vase I encountered at the Met years ago still seems to speak to me from across the centuries, not in words, but in the work of the human hand and spirit.
Artist Statement
Individual pieces - modest in scale, standing alone or in combination - are at the heart of my work. I concentrate on unobtrusively conveying a sense of quiet attention and mystery. To my mind, the best pots are both understated and forthright, and can seem both brand new and archaic at the same time. They make themselves useful, practically and spiritually. About this piece: Throughout most of human history and in almost every language the world over, there was no word for the color we now call ‘blue.’
