colorful organic form, 20 1/2" tall, excellent....ARTIST STATEMENTI AM COMPELLED BY THE SENSATION OF SEEING THINGS FRESH; AS IF FOR THE FIRST TIME... It is as if I have been asleep, and when I wake up, I am surprised by the things that surround me. In my case, it is the flora and fauna surrounding my studio that continue to surprise me. For me, these discoveries are epiphanies. My desire is to create something that might bring its observer to the same place of discovery. It's one thing too for me to respond to a stimulant and then to make work. It is another thing for that work to go the next step and bring a likewise response from the viewer.I started using my extruder to extrude tubes and then pull tapered, long spouts for my sculptural teapots. My involvement in using an extruder has totally changed my thinking about it as a tool. It widened my view of what I can do with clay. Instead of the extruder being a static tool, just to make an object, I now see it as a workstation like a potter's wheel. It is a place to make and manipulate forms. This is the thing I would like to communicate and share with others. These techniques can open up new possibilities for any one working in clay....................The son of an inventor & motorcycle racer and warrior princess homemaker, Michael Sherrill has lived in the western North Carolina mountains since 1974. He considers himself a materials-based artist experimenting primarily in the media of clay, metal, and glass. At the heart of his interest is the intersection of where humans and materials meet in both handmade objects and the natural world. Michael’s work is in several public collections including the Smithsonian Institute’s Renwick Collection, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, Corning Museum of Glass, and Takoma Glass Museum, among others. In 1993, the Year of Craft, Michael was selected for the White House collection, which traveled to venues around the United States. His piece, “Incandescent Bottles,” now resides in the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. As part of the International Ceramics Symposium (World Ceramic Exposition Foundation), Michael was one of 10 artists invited in the summer of 2004 to participate in a residency creating outdoor sculptures to be placed permanently at the International Ceramic Museum in Inchon, S. Korea. His other residencies include: the LH Project (2015), Museum of Glass (2010), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (2006), and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2005). Michael was awarded the 2010 United States Artists Wingate Fellowship. He is currently involved with the Center for Craft Creativity and Design and served as president on the board of the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design. The CCCD is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of craft and the field of materials-based arts both in practice and in academic settings.