My approach towards stoneware and porcelain is to celebrate it! I love the fact that when I make a piece, whether it is thrown, coiled, slab built or sculptural…. This piece of earth is forming a connection with my hands, my spirit. I want it to look hand made! I want it to look like clay!
The fact that any imperfection, line, dent or crevice becomes the beauty of the piece when the clay marries the glaze. I am a woman who loves wrinkles, my stories written across my face… I also love the stories written into my clay pieces.
I am a painter as well as a ceramicist, so for me, glaze is a wonderful universe unto itself. Color in melted glass that can blend or not blend with its neighboring color…. Color that you may guide but you will never harness completely; there will always be a surprise gift mixture when you open the kiln. This, to me, is the excitement of working with clay. And I believe that it is also the gift of owning a clay piece. The surprise inside at the bottom of the mug, or around the other side of the bowl, how far does that drip go, how does the signature look this time…?
My ceramic work celebrates the imperfections, the unique from one piece to another…. I am not interested in sameness or feather lightness. I would rather revel in experimentatiojn, play and what would happen if…

Please write me if you are interested in a piece or if you are wondering what else I have made.
Jean Marie Paradis
PO Box 99
Hathorne, MA 01937