Becca Ito

When I started throwing seven years ago, I didn't realize I was experimenting with a craft that would make sense of my lifelong love of form. Ever since I can remember, I've loved the feel of things-Ama's green glass cups, the curve of a motorcycle seat handle-and pottery gives me a way to explore this world of shape and function. 

As a Chinese-Thai Japanese-American, I come to my work with a variety of influences. The ornate, lotus-like forms of Thai pottery, a ceramic prof's penchant for earth tones, the unpredictable beauty of wood-fired pottery in the Northwoods of Wisconsin-all these have shaped my style. I'm also marked by the hospitality I received and learned to offer in college. There I learned pieces are fulfilled in use: a set of bowls is complete not when they come out of the kiln, but when they are filled with soup and shared with friends.