Zoë Powell

Only seven years out of school, Zoë Powell has quickly made a name for herself as an acclaimed ceramics artist. In 2016, Powell graduated from College of William & Mary in Virginia. Two years later, Powell and her partner, Mitch Iburg, opened Studio Alluvium in St. Paul, Minnesota. Specifically, Powell’s studio is called Zoë Powell Ceramics.

The studio is a gallery and native clay production studio where Powell creates and presents the sculptural works that she painstakingly creates. Powell says that her work (courtesy of Bunnell Arts) “serves as a formal exploration of human emotions; an attempt to visualize the intangible.”

Powell is unique in that she creates her vessels from clay (and minerals) she personally collects and processes. It is something that Powell feels very strongly about. She considers working with locally-sourced materials as her way to practice sustainability. In addition, it helps Powell (courtesy of the artist’s web site) “take full responsibility for a material by honoring it throughout the production process.”

Digging for clay is just part of a day’s work… and finding the alluvial deposits from Minnesota’s numerous river valleys allows Powell (along with Iburg) to find the material to create her stunning vessels.

For the past six years and presently, Powell has used only locally-sourced materials. That means that each summer and fall, Powell and Iburg collect roughly 3,000 pounds of raw material. The sheer magnitude of material allows the artists to have enough clay to work with through the winter and spring seasons.

The forged materials contain both organic matter and mineral impurities that need to be clarified prior to use. Rather than disposing of those residues, Powell has found a way to use them in glazes. The work is fired in an electric kiln… after careful experimentation to ensure that no unnecessary firing cycles are conducted.

Perhaps Powell’s most impressive collection was the Magnolia Series. The collection was commissioned by the Brooklyn-based gallery, Satyricon Antiques. The gallery’s owner first discovered Powell on Instagram; Dina Alfano says (courtesy of 1st Dibs) “Her works are unglazed, unadorned, unembellished, which allows the material to be celebrated. The level of refinement she achieves in the end product, from a crude material she harvests and processes herself, defies expectation.”

Alfano was so drawn to the work that she initially commissioned the “Perianth” series; she followed up with a commission for the “Magnolia” series… a six piece collection of large-scale vessels. Some vessels are so substantial in both size and weight that they can be mistaken for pieces of furniture.

Powell loves creating the actual piece; however she says her favorite part of the process is cutting the rim. The fluidity of movement is her signature mark… a way she brings her audience (courtesy of an article in 1st Dibs by Cara Greenberg) “from one space to the next.”

Powell’s poetic vessels often appear as though they are pulling away from each other… as polar forces playing against one another. The artist says that her sculptures “act as metaphors for human relationships that are based on impending separation or forced attachment.” Powell’s beautiful words are an alluring explanation of her mesmerizing ceramic vessels.