: Chuck Iker - Viewing Profile

<li>I have been actively involved in art and ceramics for well over 20 years with specific focus on bonsai pottery for the past 7. My earlier work consisted mostly of functional and artistic forms. It was a commission request from a customer that led me toward bonsai pottery. It is here that I have settled. It is here that my horticultural interest and art has crossed paths.

My pots are vessels for the art of bonsai. I find elegance in simplistic geometry so my work tends to follow a deliberate cleanliness of form. The bonsai pot is a single element of the bonsai landscape. It should bring visual harmony to the overall piece. It should compliment in both color and form. I am a student in the art of bonsai. My personal collection is modest. I am honored and gratified when my pottery becomes part of another artist's vision.

I am most at home on the potter's wheel. I do on occasion wander away to refresh my artistic curiosity by hand-building. I find ceramics to be the perfect alchemy of mud to fire to final form. The process continues to fascinate me every time I sit at the wheel, every time I open the kiln. Today almost everything I produce is bonsai, mame, or accent pots. I also have quite a few customers who raise rare cacti and succulents and find bonsai pots to be an ideal container for their compositions.

My Work

All of my pots are individually thrown, shaped, or altered by hand. Mass produced, cast, or jiggered forms are not part of my artistic vocabulary. I use only high quality stoneware clay. Each pot is bisque fired, glazed, and then glaze fired to 2185 F to vitrify the clay and harden the finish. The foot of every pot is given functional and artistic consideration and trimmed appropriate to the form. Drainage holes and wire tie holes are appropriate to the shape and function. I use a variety of my own glaze formulas along with oxides and slips to finish my work. My pots are glazed only on the exterior. All of my work is signed, numbered and cataloged.

Iker Bonsai Pottery Studio

My studio is located at my home in Southeast Ohio along the East Fork River. After years of working in community studio space I have settled in a comfortable and inspiring private studio. Pottery is a solitary and personal art form; having your own studio space and the equipment to work without restriction allows the greatest freedom to create. I work hard to keep Iker Bonsai Pottery an artistic and enjoyable endeavor. I will settle for nothing less than the highest level of business integrity and customer satisfaction.

It is my hope that my work will find its way into your collection.

Chuck Iker
Iker Bonsai Pottery
Batavia, Ohio USA