Meet Mark Rossier | Studio Potter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Rossier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I worked for other independent potters who had small production potteries with a few employees, and that experience made me believe having a pottery business was possible. But it was also clear to me that I had to figure out some way to sell my work if I wanted to continue making my work. That has actually always been true. What I realize now is, frankly, I was resisting the negative cultural stereotypes of the “flaky, starving artist”, and for that reason I was determined to structure myself as a business, and make my work fit that model, rather than simply be a studio artist. Now I feel like I have the experience as a business, yet I operate as a studio artist because that is truly who and what I am.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My work is definitely steeped in the traditions of handmade functional pottery that go back nearly as long as humans have been around, but I always work to strike a balance of a traditional, and yet a contemporary, feel. I believe my work is comfortable and comforting to people; it has a familiarity for people, so they are drawn to use it. I am very proud of the fact that I often have customers tell me that their day just wouldn’t work if they didn’t start it using one of my mugs, and usually it is one specific mug. I am also proud of the fact that I don’t sit still: my work keeps slowly changing and evolving over time. These days I am also making acoustic guitars and I find that my pottery and my guitars inform each other, both functionally and aesthetically–I find that relationship, of wood and clay, most exciting.

Having a business as an artist is never easy, and I don’t believe ever gets easier. Both the externals, as far as marketing and supply chains and technologies, and the internals pertaining to what I most feel drawn to explore and make, are constantly changing and constantly need attention. The only way to overcome that is to keep going. To me, there is nothing more human than a beautiful piece of functional art. As a studio artist I require a great deal of uninterrupted time, but I also need feedback and connection with other artists and my customers. So I am always working to balance my time in my studio and time connecting. I make my work to remind us all of our humanity, of our connection to each other at this time, and over all time. In a nutshell, that is what I want my brand to stand for.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My “backyard” has incredible access to the outdoors and wilderness. I would start with a walk up the Anne U. White trail, just to begin my visitor’s getting acclimated to the altitude, then drive up Flagstaff Mountain for a view over the whole area. A quick, fantastic meal of empanadas can be grabbed at Rincon Argentino, or all sorts of other possibilities at the Rayback Collective. My little town of Niwot, though, has an impressive group of restaurants, and trails with views right to the fourteeners in Rocky Mountain National Park. I love Denver’s art museums, so I would definitely want to get them to the Denver Art Museum and the Kirkland Museum, at the least. And, time permitting, I would go to the Four Corners area because I feel such a deep connection to that canyon country just outside of Moab–and it isn’t that far!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I feel grateful for the mentorship of Stephen Kilborn at the Stephen Kilborn Pottery for being willing to take me on as an unskilled kid right off the street, and being so willing to share with me all of his experience as a potter and businessperson. I feel the same about Simon Pearce, who also took a bit of a risk on me and still taught me so much about how to make good pots quickly. And, while at Simon’s, I feel grateful for my time working with potter Miranda Thomas Shackleton, of Miranda Thomas Pottery, who taught me to really see a pot and approach it as a dynamic decorative surface.

Website: www.markrossierpottery.com

Instagram: @markmudman