Matt Steinborn

Artist Statement

Mountain Stone Pottery is grounded in a desire to connect with material, process, and place. My work begins with clay, a material that starts as dirt and is shaped through touch, time, and attention. Making pottery allows me to stay connected to something elemental and slow in a world that often moves too fast.

The firing process is central to my practice and deeply meaningful to me. Working with fire, whether in gas, soda, hybrid, or wood kilns, places the work outdoors and in direct relationship with natural forces. Flame, ash, heat, and atmosphere move through the kiln in ways that cannot be fully controlled, decorating the surface and leaving a visible record of the firing. I am drawn to this balance between intention and response, where the kiln becomes an active participant in the final piece.

Living in a region where fire has caused significant harm to communities and landscapes has shaped how I think about its role. In my work, fire is not destructive but transformative. It is used to create beauty, mark surfaces with color and texture, and give permanence to a fragile material. Through this process, I aim to make functional objects that carry both usefulness and a quiet reflection on the power of natural forces.