Rita Shields, Clay Artist.

I have always loved clay.

I would spend hours playing with oil based clay as a child. A fresh box of clay was filled with many colors and offered endless possibilities and could be purchased for less than a dollar, at the local dime store.

I studied three years of ceramics in high school; this is where I really fell in love with clay.  Following high school, I decided to enroll in general classes at Grand Rapids Junior College.  However, after one year of general classes my focus concentrated on clay and so I stayed, so many years many referred to me as a “lifer”.  

Over the years my clay habit was supported by working many other jobs.  I was finally able set up my own home studio in 1990 and I have been working with clay full time ever since

My work is fun, functional and usually thrown on the potter’s wheel.  I will add hand-formed decorations made from slabs, pinch pots or press molds.

I am inspired from nature, which surrounds all of us.

Inspired from our camping trips together, a series of work called pond life emerged when my children were young. This series has since evolved into the reptile work offered on my pots today.  This work consists of life size realistic lizards embellishing various functional forms.

I live in Comstock Park MI and sell my work at juried art fairs in Michigan and surrounding states.  I also teach at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids MI.