Jennifer Pak

I have always loved nature as far as I remember, ever since my father took us hiking every weekend during my childhood. We would explore mountains, beaches, and rivers where we camped out surrounded by beautiful nature, like sounds of trees, birds, flowers, water, and wind. This influenced me in many ways including my pottery.

I was drawn to organic shapes and colors of handmade ceramic wares and loved collecting tea pots, tea cups and bowls. In the summer of 2016, I took a wheel throwing class with my daughter at OCAC and immediately fell in love with world of clay. I took every ceramics studio class OCAC offered for two years until I finally joined private studios — taking various workshops of many talented ceramic artists while developing and working my own style. What started as a hobby became my lifetime passion. I fall in love with clay everyday.

Creating functional objects from lumps of clay is magical. Whether it be throwing on the wheel, coil-pinching, or slap building, I take inspiration from my wonderful childhood memories and transform them onto the surface of various bodies and shapes of clay. It brings me so much joy to see each and every piece come to life with full of colors and whimsical illustrations. I hope it does the same for many others.

Market events are incredibly special for it brings so many talented artists together as a supportive and caring community. It’s also very rewarding to meet so many people interacting with my work, which is always a great boost of inspiration and motivation for my creativity.