Debra Fritts

As a child, I had dirt under my fingernails and spent hours playing in the mud.  Today I continue to allow the earth to feed me information for my art.   Working intuitively from pounds of wet red clay, forms appear and stories develop.  I may be questioning an occurrence or celebrating a relationship or just being aware of the precious environment.  The search continues until I reach the core: the spiritual level of the sculpture.  Then the work can speak.  At the present, I am exploring new territory in Abiquiu, New Mexico while embracing my southern heritage.  Often symbols are used in the work such as the color red or three dots to honor my mother or the raven as a symbol for my new life in the west.  I am “touching ground”, getting to the basics, listening and learning.  Each sculpture is hand built, using thick coils, and fired three to five times depending on the color and surface I am trying to achieve.  I approach the color on the clay as a painter.  My palette is a combination of oxides, slips, underglazes, and glazes.  The form of the piece informs the type of surface treatment.