Jim and Susie Huckaby
Clay
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"My wife and I are partners, whether it is on the dance floor, cleaning the dinner dishes, or in the creation of our pottery. We have managed to split the processes into the tasks that we find most enjoyable or are the most proficient.
Susan has oil painting experience, so she is comfortable with a brush, therefore all the design work on the pottery is hers. Also, she makes many of the pieces using the slab roller. I do the wheel thrown work, the glaze formulation and application, and the firing.
I first became involved with pottery at 16 years of age in my freshman year at Richardson High School in an elective course. Being immediately seduced by the creative possibilities of clay, I endeavored to take 2 more semesters of ceramics in my junior and senior years. The only down side was that the class was 1st period and my clothes were perpetually covered in mud through out the rest of the school day.
Upon turning twenty and realizing that making it as a famous rock star was a dream that was not to be fulfilled, the decision was made to do something constructive with my life, like become a potter. At twenty-one, I bought my first kiln and wheel and here I am in my late 50's still making my living creating pottery. I have used over 95 tons of clay over the years, most of it thrown on that same wheel first purchased at age twenty-one. At the same age, (twenty-one), I met my beloved wife, Susan, also a creative soul; she is a painter. Since she was so much better in the use of a brush, the pottery just naturally evolved into a two person effort, with her doing all of the brushwork design; floral, southwest and other patterns.
All of my work is made out of a stoneware/porcelain body and I make all of my own glazes from formulas that I developed. Most of the pottery, 90%, is wheel thrown and the rest slab work, fired in oxidation. Susan and I work in a 2500 sq. foot studio/showroom, next door to our 109 year old house in Sanger, Texas. Being Texas residents, our work is influenced by where we live, so we do Blue Bonnets and other South West pieces but about 1/3 of the Art Shows that we participate in each year are in Florida, so a lot of work has an ocean theme. My glazes reflect this also; lots of teals, greens, blues, pinks, light tans and a sandy white. You won’t find dark, black or brown pots on my shelves.
This is our 44th year making pottery, and we travel throughout the U.S. participating in Art Shows, many rated the best in the nation, from Florida to Colorado, and a few here at home in Texas. We also do retail and wholesale sales from our studio and we ship anywhere in the continental USA. Our pottery is created with functionality in mind; dinnerware, chip + dips, teapots, pie plates, baskets and vases, amounting to over a hundred different items. It is made of a durable stoneware/porcelain body, with glazes that do not contain lead or barium and will go in the oven, microwave and dishwasher.
Our studio and showroom are located 3 blocks south of downtown Sanger Texas, at the corner of Wood and 5th. As of now it is open by appointment, but if you see the doors open and the lights on, you would be welcomed".