Karin Perkins
My childhood years in Asia, living in four countries before I was thirteen, have made me who I am and have influenced what I create. Aside from this background, I find my life and work inspired by what Lao Tsu writes about water in the Tao Te Ching. He describes water as being at once yielding and strong, I want to balance control with an acceptance of what is. Strength, happiness, beauty and even health all come from this balance.
Before my ceramics began with the Ann Arbor Potters Guild, I spent some years in watercolor enjoying what water can do, how it moves and blends and how it creates edges. I now do the same with my forms and glazes in clay. I like to see line and fluidity. With experience, I hope my work has a balance created by embracing and then letting go of control so that the inherent personality of the clay speaks freely.
