meghan bernard pottery

Tea-Bags are fully functioning teapots.  They are slab built porcelain, hand sculpted and glazed.  The details of stitching and seam lines are all refined after the piece has been constructed, but before firing.  After being bisque and glaze fired, these pieces are fired a third time to add a gold luster glaze.  The gold luster adds a final finish to the buckles and zippers.  They are all one of a kind, no molds are used. All designs are available in matching sugar and creamer sets, and tea cups. Teapot collectors are drawn to them, no collection is complete without one.  

Birds and blueberries are thrown and altered porcelain. They are inspired by a baby bird rescued and raised by my daughter and I. Each one is hand carved and hand painted with underglaze. The whole piece is glazed with a food safe glaze.  

Every spring a family of House Wrens invades my studio.  They manage to get in every year and if they are going to pester me while I work I may as well make put them on my pots.  The Swirlygig Bird design came from them.  Each piece is thrown porcelain on the wheel and then carved.  After it dries I inlay the carving with black slip and then hand paint the rest of the colors.  They are then fired with food safe glazes. This has become my most popular line- thank you numerous generations of House Wrens .

Lollipop Trees and fat little birds.  What could make for a happier cup of coffee?  Porcelain is thrown on the wheel and then carved.  After carving black underglaze is inlayed into the carvings, then more color is hand painted.  Finally the whole piece is glazed with food safe glazes. 

One of the best parts of living in Western North Carolina is watching the seasons change.  The Four Seasons look great as a set or individually.  I wanted to make something my customers could collect and share with friends and family.  Many test pots were made while developing the food safe glazes in order to get the best colors to describe the seasons.  Those glazes are layered, sprayed and scrubbed off parts of each pot to give it its own personality.  I love making them, I feel like I'm building a little forest.

My newest design is foxes and ferns, another line inspired by my surroundings. This past spring I had a pair of foxes move in behind my studio. After putting my cat on lock-down, I was able to enjoy seeing glimpses of them in the evenings. I was also able to hear them chat and grumble at each other, just like any good married couple. Instead of seeing them as pests and distractions to my late night studio time, I embraced them as my new muses. I like thinking of them as my new neighbors.

The design includes a few poses, each drawn one at a time, letting their personalities shine through. The black lines are carved into the porcelain with a sharp knife, then inlaid with black under-glaze. Each color is hand painted before being glazed with food safe glazes. My daughter approves of my sketches, with one condition. The fox is never looking at the mouse, which is safely hiding on the other side of the pot. My hope is to make a quiet scene, not a murder plot in the making. Everyone is well fed and well behaved for your enjoyment.