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Barry Krzywicki has been a studio potter for more than 25 years.  He exhibits his wood-fired and glazed work both locally and nationally.  He currently teaches at Naropa University and the Mizel Center for the Arts; previously he taught at Arapahoe Community College and the Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities.

“I would never have predicted that when I first began working in clay my work would have the character that it does today.  For me, the creative process is a profound transformational experience.  As I repeat the act of making a piece, it goes through a gradual evolution, the result of a series of minute adjustments and small discoveries over time.  I strive to pay close attention to these shifts, and to work with a spirit of exploration.”

Firing is the final stage of the transformational process.  Glazed work is spectacular in its own way, whereas wood firing leaves unique, unpredictable effects on the ware.  Firing the wood-burning kiln takes eighteen to twenty hours and the firebox must be continually stoked.   A raging furnace melts ash to glaze, vitrifies clay and leaves unique, unpredictable effects on the ware.  Control must be relinquished to the firing, knowing that there is a tremendous risk involved.

“As a small boy I spent many hours in my grandmother’s kitchen, playing with a small piece of dough while she made pizza, bread and biscotti.   Today, I wonder how she used folk ceramics while growing up in agrarian peasant society in southern Italy.  I realize that I utilize some of the same processes that those folk potters utilized.  Previously, production concerns were tied to societal needs to stock provisions, store liquids, cook, and serve food.  Today, practical functions have given way to artistic concerns, where one’s creative voice is of paramount importance.”

Barry has led Spanish ceramic history tours, lectured on the history of Spanish ceramics and is currently researching Spanish Lusterware firing techniques.  He has visited pottery villages from the Amazon rainforest in Peru to southern Spain, as well as in Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Japan & Thailand.  He is interested in learning and documenting how these potters must adapt to the forces of change imposed by contemporary society.

“At times I wish I had been born a hundred years earlier and could have visited pottery villages that have vanished.  If not for museums, there would be no existing record of this cultural legacy.  I am drawn to old pots full of vitality, which have been used lovingly, cared for and passed down through generations.  I wonder if perhaps some of my own work may become part of this cycle, as I record my own experience through this age-old craft.”