Denise Wilz

Studio 3

I fell in love with red earthenware when I took an adult-evening class in 2001. But how to decorate the clay? I turned to the Pennsylvania German folk art books I had been collecting and took a closer look at the pottery called “Redware”. The slipware designs were simple lines, but the sgraffito pieces were more detailed and beautiful with their sense of innocence; where proportion, perspective and perfection were not a requirement.

Today my pottery focuses on the traditional motifs and processes used by the Pennsylvania German potters from the late 1600s into the mid-1800s. My favorite decorating technique is the centuries-old sgraffito technique used to scratch fancy and commemorative designs into the clay. My studio is in a 1750s stone house where each piece is made by starting with a rolling pin to “slab” or flatten the clay, slip cups for slip-trailing, scratch tools, molds for shaping plates, and handcrafted tin cookie cutters for ornaments. I fire my pottery in an electric kiln and the commercial glazes have been tinted with oxides to emulate the coloring of antique redware.

I have authored several articles and videos, and have been teaching redware pottery making since 2008. I am a Master Artisan of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, and am included in the Directory of Traditional American Crafts presented by Early American Life magazine.

My favorite Pennsylvania German saying is “Lieben und Geliebt zu werden Ist die Gröst Freud auf Erden”;
translated “To love and be loved is the greatest joy on earth”.

Website: https://www.wilzpottery.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wilzpottery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisewilz