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Staff Artist Profile - Tyler Gulden - Interim Executive Director 
Attention to function plays a critical role in creating wares to be used in conjunction with the preparation, serving and consumption of food and drink. That creative process relies on generating intuitive connections between the clay and the maker. Questioning function and the process of making is important to the development of those connections. The answers to the questions lie somewhere between my hands and the clay. This work follows a tradition of atmospheric firing called salt firing. One’s intuition is the primary guide to the process embracing the surprises (and occasional “mistakes”) that occur as a result of the firing process is just one of the tools of the trade that informs the works that are revealed the next time the kiln is opened. From a pragmatic standpoint - the work explores design and craftsmanship as applies to concerns of functional ware for the table. Form and surface, fit and finish, balance and weight (both visual, and as appropriate to the use of an object), comfort, a sense of generosity and ease in the use of the material, are paramount concerns in the making of my pottery. 
From a conceptual standpoint - an object can satisfy through mere presence; however,
when engaged in a purpose the object, as a vehicle for satisfaction, is transformed
and transforms; its user synchronized in the purpose of design and in the moment of use,
wherein an ontological shift occurs from consumer to consumed.
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