Ken Sedberry
Maker/Collector Statement
Norm was one of my instructors at The Rhode Island School of Design in 1975 - 1977 when I was there as a graduate student. We both landed in North Carolina in the early 1980’s. We shared firing kilns together over many years. We were both drawn to firing with wood. When Norm could no longer fire his kiln I would put a few pieces of his in my kiln and invite him down to help me fire. This Wood Fired Vessel is one of the last pots that Norm and I fired together.
“Recently, I have returned to wood-firing - using as little glaze as possible, only where the nature and/or function of the pot demands it. My path has led me to the search for my idea of the essential. At this moment in my work, the vessel and the infinite variety of forms offers me the most satisfaction.” - Norm Schulman 2005
The piece from the Guardian series (circa 1991) was selected by The US Ambassador to Niger, Africa through the Art in Embassies Program of the US State Department, as one of two Guardians that spent three years in the Ambassador’s residence.
“As the works in the Guardian series plays out, he uses it to explore the mystical presence of the animal and in the later pieces to become once again engaged with formal issues. There is, indeed, a presence to these beasts beyond the physical. Made to hang on the wall, they confront the viewer or in some instances seem to hover, like a spirit friend or Jung’s animus/anima. “Instinct has been domesticated….”, said Jung. Sedberry’s hounds seem the personification of that statement….hound and man, wolf and woman, foe and friend, nuisance and guardian, wild thing and house pet.” - Jane Kessler 1991