Photos courtesy Mesa Arts Center Fern Bird, Genetic Drift by Farraday Newsome (left); Interwoven Fields by Jeff Reich

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

Farraday Newsome has been creating unique ceramic art for more than 20 years. Based in Mesa, at the Indigo Street Pottery studio that she shares with her husband and fellow ceramic artist, Jeff Reich, Newsome uses red terra cotta clay to construct ornate teapots, pitchers, vases, bowls, lidded boxes and other similar objects. She applies a coat of glaze to her work, creates a collage of colorful images, and then covers the work with a permanent painterly layer of glass.

Newsome is currently showing one of her pieces at the Mesa Arts Center’s 31st Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition.

“The piece I am exhibiting is Fern Bird, Genetic Drift series. It is a sculpture of an upward gazing, large-billed bird glazed with a drift of ferns, bones, a shark tooth, egg clusters, a hand holding a hummingbird, an anatomical heart, dice and a watch,” Newsome explains.

Newsome’s work, as well as Reich’s, will be on display at the crafts exhibition until March 14. Visit mesaartscenter.org for more information.