Osa Atoe
Diamond Mug (2019) Ceramic Wheel-thrown, carved $65 Osa lives in Baton Rouge, making pottery in her garage at home. She took her first wheel throwing class at age 34 when she lived in New Orleans, learning in community studios and taking advantage of free ceramics information online. Five years later in 2018, Atoe completed a one year post-baccalaureate program for ceramics at Louisiana State University. During that year, she discovered handbuilding and also experimented with dozens of new glaze recipes to develop new surfaces. As a transplant to Louisiana, who has been living here for a decade, Atoe’s aesthetic is one that comes from an internal sense of self than the external influences of Southern culture. She wishes to express multiculturalism and a human universality through her work- perhaps a reflection of her upbringing in the Washington, DC area. There, she grew up the child of Nigerian immigrants, surrounded by other immigrants from all over the world. Her understanding of America is that it is a mutt culture, and she uses the term with all due respect, as the owner of two mixed breed dogs that she loves very much. Atoe uses red stoneware clay and often leaves portions of her pots unglazed, decorated with carved and stamped geometric designs to hint at prehistoric or primitive ceramics. The patterns are simple and universal, as similar designs can be found on the bodies of ancient pots from all over the world.