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Artist Profiles: Cori Morenburg
Cori Morenburg I live with my husband, an arborist and garden designer, in Inwood, the uniquely-green, northern-most Manhattan neighborhood embraced by the majestic Hudson River and a sacred forest remnant with ancient rock caves once home to the Shorakopek Native Indians. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to spend my days at work I enjoy so much it feels like play. *I'm also a passionate eco-preneur. In nearly everything I do for pleasure and passion, and certainly with pottery, it's the process that attracts me. I fell in love with clay early on, before I'd ever touched more than Playdough. I remember clearly the first pot I bought while still in high school and visiting a local crafts fair. It was a white porcelain bowl thrown very thin and glazed with a satin navy blue and accent of mossy green that mixed with it and broke deliciously in the ridges under its lip. But more than its look, I loved its feel in my hands, its swollen, belly-like sides, sanded-soft foot, how it calmed me like petting my family dog did, and how when I ran my fingers around the rim I could tell it was pulled slightly off circle enabling me to "see" the potter forming the wet plastic material and feel his hands even in the fired, stone-like clay. I look to nature quite literally for design cues and let clay's inherent qualities dictate straight forwardly how it can be worked. Pinching it and hand building with slabs and coils as I do forces me to slow down to its organic speed, its inching rhythm. It's largely this quality of clay that works on me, takes me out of the frenzied and unnatural pace of contemporary life, out of my head, into my body, and heals me. And it's this that I hope my finished pieces do for their buyers -- bring a bit of comfort and healing from the everyday sorrows and injuries that life doles out plentifully. Imbued with sculptural elements, I intend my pottery to serve dually--as talismans and dishes--while being used in the daily rituals of life. What's Next? 
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