Artist Statement: 

Biography: Andrew Wender

My formal education was primarily in the fields of science and the humanities. While searching for a career that could combine these interests, I had the life changing opportunity to study with a master potter. Working with clay awakened the creative energy that poured from my hands into the malleable clay. Focusing on my craft’s technical demands as well as the artistic expression, I continued to refine my craft. Combining the Zen aesthetic of Japanese pottery with the pioneering spirit of building a wood fired kiln in a rural setting, allowed my craft to mature. The next phase involved marketing various lines of pottery through galleries and art shows while raising a family and developing my art.

Drawn to the interaction of light on transparent and iridescent glazes, I developed a lamp and shade combination that enchanted my pottery while creating a decorative lighting solution for my customers. The spontaneity and excitement inherent in the raku process combined with the balance and precision of my compositions work to create one of a kind art lamps. In addition, the subtle reference to my city background in the architecture of my lamps as well as a reflection of my life on the Gulf of Mexico, in the peaceful radiance of the sunset colored orbs, allow for my creativity and experience to come through in each piece. I can be found displaying my lamps at art shows throughout the country and in my shop in Smicksburg.