Alex Olson

Born in Seattle, Washington, Alex Olson was raised by a family of artists—his mother a painter and his father a photographer. He spent summers growing up on Stuart Island, Washington, where exploring the remote wilderness fostered a deep attentiveness to and appreciation for the rhythms of the natural landscape.

Before studying ceramics, Alex worked primarily in woodturning and photography. He earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Carleton College in 2018, where his artistic practice expanded to include ceramics.

Through his artistic career, Alex strives to cultivate an ever-curious studio practice, share his passion for craftsmanship, and inspire creativity in others. He currently makes pottery and teaches ceramics in Brooklyn, New York.

Artist Statement: Statement: My artwork is driven by my curiosity about the rhythms of the natural world and the intersections of landscape and the home. Motion in the landscape—weather, light, shadow, fauna—feeds my desire to create and inspires the organic shapes in my art. I am drawn to clay’s malleability and craft functional forms that people can integrate into their daily routines and rituals. Each pot is first thrown on the wheel, faceted, and textured using found objects such as shells and stones. In my work, I explore concepts of mark-making and imprinting through both process and form: found objects from the landscape make physical marks in the clay, leaving imprints of place on my pottery. Atmospheric firing methods such as woodfiring and sodafiring add complexity to the faceted surfaces, creating gradients of color and texture that mimic patterns in nature; I also use this effect to reference the cycles and transitions of the natural world. More broadly, while crafting my work I consider how experiences in nature stay with us in transformative ways—and how we hold on to those experiences by bringing elements of the natural world into our homes.