Get to know the artists
- Cathie McCormick
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 14
Esther Murphy
Twenty-three years ago, Esther Murphy walked into a pottery class at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria. Little did she know that her “Monday-night outings,” would turn into a lifetime love with clay. She later set up a home studio in Shepherdstown, West Virginia where she currently does her creating.
During those early years, she worked with Bill Van Gilder and Phil Berneburg at the studio in Jefferson, Maryland and at Hood College. She has also taken workshops with potters Tony Clennel, Fong Choo, and Cathi Jefferson.
One piece of advice she learned from Van Gilder and shares with beginners is to “not fall in love with your work.” She said, “That piece of greenware that turned out exactly right can all too often crack or have some other flaw when it comes of the glaze kiln. Disappointments happen!”
Over the years, she has done much of her work on the wheel with slip trailing and impressions evolving into the use of underglazes and brushwork under glossy clear Cone 6 glazes on porcelain. The underglazes “invite” her to try new techniques, and while she finds the porcelain challenging, she feels it “provides a beautiful background for decoration.” Lately, she is doing more hand building with slabs and enjoys using paper stencils to create patterns of a single color on the porcelain.
Three years ago, Esther joined the Over the Mountain Studio Tour in Jefferson County, West Virginia where artists invite the public into their studios. During the weekend, Esther invited a cartoonist to join her as a guest artist. While her guests looked over the pottery on display, they could also be immortalized in a caricature of themselves by the visiting artist. Esther said the caricatures were a big hit.
Most of her work is fired in an electric kiln, but she looks for opportunities to do wood firings. She also wants to try saggar firing in her electric kiln.
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