Welcome to Clay By Nature Pottery
The preferred source of beautiful, handmade, hand painted pottery.
I have loved playing in mud and mixing stuff since I was a child. It is something that caught my attention and interest early on. Other people love cooking, reading, or baking, but for me; nothing beats throwing on the wheel - it's my favorite thing to do. I never tire of watching a lump of brown dirt/clay transform before my very eyes, and become a useful object such as a pottery, mug, vase, or bowl.
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It is this passion for creating usable objects from clay that led me to work as a full-time potter for Van Briggle Art Pottery. However, in 1999, they had to reduce production, which led me to decide to start out my very own line of functional pottery. Clay By Nature Pottery is a company that represents my love for creating usable art through pottery. I have been in business since 1999 and have added new designs every year. I create handmade, hand painted pottery which are inspired by beautiful creatures and scenery found in nature.
I graduated from C.S.U Pueblo in 2011 and have a Bachelors of Fine Art degree which has helped me increase the quality and uniqueness of my designs. I am a Member of N. C. E. A, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, and am also a member of The Arts student League of Denver, the Commonwealth Artist Co-op, and have just recently become a verified to Scuba dive which inspire my fish drawings, and ocean inspired designs. I am also a member of Padi and Reef.org
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“The Purpose of Art is to make us aware of the very life we are Living”
- John Cage
In this quote John Cage captures the philosophy of Clay by Nature Pottery and its founder, Deborah Hager. Her art is a celebration of the sacred in the ordinary life.
Deborah makes plates, soap dishes, pots, chip n' dips, way cool batter bowls and quite a few other items. She combines the beautiful and the functional in objects that have an intimate place in people's lives - like the rim of the mug meeting the drinker's lips or a bowl being the center of a family gathering. |
Our History
The Journey |
The Journey Deborah Hager was born in a small suburb outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She had a strong interest in art as a child. She could often be found making coffee, peanut butter mixtures in the kitchen, and Barbie swimming pools made of mud outside.
After high school she attended the Pittsburgh Art Institute and Indiana University of Pennsylvania; her emphasis at that time was drawing and painting. Recently Deborah has gone back to school to complete her B.F.A. with an emphasis in ceramics at Colorado State University, Pueblo, where she graduated with high honors in May of 2011. Deborah started her career as a potter at Van Briggle Pottery making original thrown pots. She worked at Van Briggle until 2008. When her personal work became increasingly demanding, she ended her employment to concentrate on her own business, Clay by Nature Pottery, which she has owned and operated since 1999. |
Who We Are
Her objective is to make functional pottery with a decorative flair. Her goal is to inspire the user to celebrate the sacred in everyday life.
Currently Deborah has added Sgraffito wood fired carved pottery to her decorative line of art. The Sgraffito work is a return to her roots in drawing. All drawings are originally created by her and are taken from objects in nature. Her carved designs are inspired by the Native American Prairie Style, which was created in the late 1800’s by the Native Americans. This style integrates the floral designs of the Europeans while maintaining traditional Native American geometric designs. For Deborah the juxtaposition of the organic verses geometric designs parallel the reality of life, where spontaneity resides with order and structure. |