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 About
The Artist…
I make high-fired functional pottery
in my home studio located in a 175-year-old former dairy
barn on 20 acres atop scenic Catoctin Mountain just a few minutes
west of Leesburg. Studio and showroom are open most days for visitors,
but please call ahead to make sure I'm here.
My purpose as a ceramic
artist is to create objects that are both beautiful and functional.
My sense of beauty is strongly influenced by the beauty I see
in nature -- in its colors and shapes, its textures and rhythms.
A key aspect of nature's esthetic for me lies in its imperfections,
its asymmetrically, its randomness, its unpredictability -- all
qualities I endeavor to capture in my work.
A rural dweller, I
am the lucky and joyful witness daily to the local landscape in
northwestern Virginia, with its lush vegetation, its rolling terrain,
its rocky outcroppings, its streams and woods and earthy colors.
The natural beauty here offers a constant source of inspiration.
Clay is itself of-the-earth, of course,
and for me it is the perfect medium for creative expression. Because
I am working with natural ingredients, which are inherently imperfect,
my purpose is not to try to make perfect forms. I want my forms
to be dynamic, interesting, alive. The shapes and textures I create
out of wet clay are done as quickly and with as little conscious
thought as possible. Imperfections are not only allowed, they
are valued.
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 Glazes
made from ash and other natural ingredients are sometimes poured
and allowed to drip down areas of various forms, like water trickling
over rock. When brushwork is applied, that too is done with rapid
gestures rather than following some carefully planned design.
And finally the vessels are fired in a salt kiln, where the sodium
vapors react chemically with the silica in the clay body to form
a natural glaze on exposed areas of raw clay, and where random
colors and marks appear unexpectedly, as if by magic -- gifts
from the kiln gods.
The entire process
is in and of nature, and for whatever artistic success I have
achieved I can thank nature itself for providing me with the stimulus,
the materials, and the sense of esthetics that guides me as I
explore the visual and tactile possibilities of my chosen medium
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 Click
here to view interactive on-line map with Richard Busch's location
Directions:
 1)
From Washington, DC/Route 495 (Beltway) and points east (2 possibilities):
First possibility: Take Route 7 west toward
Leesburg. Before entering town, take the exit for Route 7/Winchester.
(It's opposite a Ford dealer on the left.) Go 5 miles to the
exit for Route 9/Charles Town, WVA. At the end of the exit ramp,
take a left. Go approximately 200 yards to the 'T' intersection,
then right on Business 7/Colonial Hwy. Go 0.5 miles to first
left on Canby Road (Route 662). Go 0.7 miles to the lane on
the left (#17642). The pottery is 0.5 miles down the lane.
Second possibility: Take the Dulles Greenway toll road (267)
west to the end. Take the left exit to Route 7 west. Go 4.5
miles to Route 9, left at the exit ramp, etc (see above).
2) From Maryland and points north:
Take Route 15 south to Leesburg. 15 becomes Route 7 west. Continue
to exit for Route 9, etc....
3) From Warrenton, VA and points south:
Take Route 15 north to Route 7 west at Leesburg. Continue to exit
for Route 9, etc....
4) From Winchester, VA and points west:
Take Route 15 east to the exit for Route 9. Go right at the exit
ramp, then right to Business 7, left on Canby, etc....
Click
here to return to main artists page
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Richard
Busch 
