Steve RolfRiver Falls, Wisconsin

Biography

S. C. Rolf lives and works as a studio potter in River Falls, WI, creating one-of-a-kind functional pots. His work reflects an ongoing search to unite his ideas with the generosity and the intimacy that the functional pot offers. “I continually play with shape and surface within parameters set by the intended purpose of the pot. These parameters open a world of exploration for me.”

Rolf holds an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, and a BS in Broad Area Arts from the University of Wisconsin River Falls. He also apprenticed under Wang Hui Ming, a master painter and wood engraver.

Rolf exhibits his work throughout the United States and has received a number of national awards. He also lectures and teaches workshops throughout the country. His work resides in noted private and national and international museum collections, as well as numerous kitchen cupboards.

Statement

As a potter, I make one of a kind functional objects that are meant to be used daily. The daily routine can be wearisome, but it is often filled with beauty that is passed over. I have made a study of making objects that fit ones hand and hopefully engage the users eye, head, and heart as well. My work celebrates the daily eating and drinking and storing and pouring. Pots are very interesting if one takes time with them because the pot, as an everyday object, has the power to trigger thoughts and feelings which we have experienced, remind us of places we have been, things we have seen, heard and touched.

My work employs the physical process of layering which describes a sense of growth of the pot, both inward and outward. The addition and subtraction of the material leave a record of time in the work. Layering of wet clay over leather-hard clay is a parallel example of the transformation of a landscape, such as an eroding riverbed. As a maker of one-of-a-kind functional objects, I use the premise that I transmit feeling through the subtle touch in working. I feel that in order for the user to “get it” they must also touch the work. My hope is that my pots will be used frequently by those who bring them into their homes.