Barber, Alexis

Cross Plains Pottery is named in honor of the long empty town where my husband and I settled in the Arkansas River Valley near Russellville. It seemed fitting that an art form so old and long lasting could share a name with any time period it chose. I am the happy potter of Cross Plains Pottery, my name is Alexis Barber. For me, clay holds the most creative potential of any material I have ever encountered. I love the freedom and accomplishment that I feel when throwing; I am enthralled by what my hands can create, and how that creation shadows my own. Pottery has ignited a spark in me, and I hope to spread the flame. I have a BA in Fine Arts from Arkansas Tech University. I had beginning and intermediate wheel throwing there, then read, studied, and threw as much as I could. I started studying glaze creation in college but through experimentation, I fell in love with 3 glazes that I use frequently over and under each other. I aim for everyday functional dinnerware, and I love to make unique pieces to make a cook’s life easier. My forms are made to show off the glazes, while each piece is made with the use in mind. I believe that clay and people are the same, taken from the dirt of the earth and formed into something useful. I think God lets the potter share in a shadow of that creation process. We are centered, our hearts are opened, we are pushed, pulled, shaped, and put through trials and fires. The creation that results that, for pottery and people both, is always worth the trouble. I am honored and reminded daily about my constant dependence on God. Every pot I make is my own testimony in physical form.