A film featuring Scott Bartolomei Edmonds from Nelson Salis View on Vimeo.

Finding a Natural Process

As a ceramist, Scott is attuned to the patterns of natural processes one might find in geology. He feels that clay expresses the features of earth and stone in the presence of water, force, pressure and time. 

When making a work he watches carefully for the moment when the process itself begins to shape the form, and then steps back to allow completion with the least intentional involvement from the artist. He often says that he delights in work that doesn't feel as though it was shaped by a person at all, but rather became through some natural process.

Determined to let material speak

Scott fires his ceramics in an anagama Japanese style wood-fire kiln in the Hudson Valley. The chaotic wood-fire process creates unique effects on each piece. There is little personal control over the results of a wood-fire. Fire and ash swirl around at a very high temperature and turn ash into glass, imprint flashes and shadows, leave encrustations and randomness on the surfaces. Wood-fire, as a final phase in development, determines the success or failure of the piece. A great form can come out drab, and an overlooked piece can emerge as a masterpiece. Scott has remarked, "Giving into these processes is a constant meditation on our lack of control over the natural order, and a marvel at what that order can produce".