Glenn Woods and Keith Herbrand: A collaborative team
Medium: Ceramics
Glenn Woods and Keith Herbrand work together to create a cohesive body of decorative and functional crystalline glazed pottery.
Glenn designs and creates the decorative pieces while Keith’s focus tends to be more functional - they use the same porcelain clay and crystalline glazes.
Glenn’s Work: Influenced by gourds, flowers, sea creatures, and patterns found in nature, I use porcelain to create vases, lidded jars, and other vessels. Many of my pieces are carved, pierced, altered, and beaded to create the illusion of overlapping flower petals and bodies which appear to be gourd-like. The beads create patterns that look like strings of jewelry adorning necks and collars. The surface I enjoy most is achieved by using matte crystalline glazes - it is soft and more subtle than the glossy crystalline glazes and allows the carving, beading, and altering to come through beautifully. I use glossy crystalline glazes when the piece requires a little more zing.
Keith’s Work: My focus tends to be more functional in nature - while I employ many of the same techniques, I use glossy crystalline glazes exclusively. The introduction of inclusion stains and post firing techniques helps to achieve unusual colors, contrast, and textures.
We work out of two studios: Palm Harbor, Florida in the fall, winter, and early spring; and Blue Island, Illinois during the late spring and summer months. We are constantly testing new glazes, firing techniques, and surface treatment.