Pottery by Osa
@potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
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Nigerian American studio potter (she/her) Gulf Coast Florida Tap “Media” for pottery content 👇🏾 Solar powered home & studio 🌞 I get verbose in the #alttext […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@potterybyosa, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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This is happening right now in #nyc. This show was in London back in 2022 and I wished I could go. The timing isn’t convenient for me but it feels important, so I’m strongly considering making a quick trip before the show closes in December. I can see family while I’m there […]
Original post on mastodon.social
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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I started calling my little jars of terra sigillata “dirt water.” I’m currently in the surface decorating phase of my process, which I love. It requires patience but I do enjoy the process of applying terra sig with my little Japanese calligraphy brush […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A collection of mason jars filled with various colored clays that I’ve collected over the years sitting on a wooden shelf. Each jar is labeled with a name or color, indicating different locations like “AL (Alabama) pink” or “Lake Ontario.” The colors are beautiful all together: dark orange, olive green, earthy pink, ochre yellow, brown…
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
It’s the anniversary of the #october7 attacks and my heart is heavy. The 80 year reign of terror against Palestinians is a poison on this earth. I believe all people under occupation have the right to resist, yet I still feel terribly for civilians caught in the middle. More Americans need to […]
Original post on mastodon.social
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“Prevailing wisdom holds that businesses can’t compete without outsourcing labour to cheaper locations. Wedgwood shows the opposite can be true. Relocating manufacturing overseas helped destroy the brand’s heritage value: “made in Indonesia” did not have the same ring as “made in England”. The […]
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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I usually make things for people to use at home, but it seems to me that the only purpose of this bowl is to bob and spin in the Gulf.

#ceramics #pottery #nature #water #beach #florida #birds #PeacefulMoments
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@theteapixie Oh, interesting. I haven’t heard of a city subsidizing studio costs for artists. I’m very sorry that you’ve lost that support.
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@theteapixie Wow. $55 is quite cheap for this day and age. It seems that they should have bumped the price up incrementally over time instead of a big jump like that all at once.

When I began pottery about 12 years ago, the average price for monthly open studio access was $100 and the price for […]
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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Black skimmers begin nesting on our beaches in the spring and we get to watch them grow from little baby puff balls to adolescents to adults over the summer. This bowl, with its rounded bottom so that it can rock and spin on a flat surface, almost functions […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Closeup of a ceramic bowl floating in the Gulf of Mexico. The rim of the bowl is lined with birds heads shaped like waves and the interior has been glazed aqua to match the water. From the outside, one sees a series of black and white skimmer heads with orange & black beaks, but from the inside, the heads look like waves. Below the heads on the exterior is a carved wave design glazed aqua to match the water. A group of Black Skimmers with distinctive black and white plumage and long orange beaks is standing on a sandy beach scattered with sparse green grass. My husband’s arms hovering gracefully above the bird wave bowl after he’s given it a spin. From this angle, the aqua interior is more visible, matching the color of the Gulf waters. The circular rhythm of the birds heads create a wave pattern. The bowl seems to be nested in the waters below, which swirls gently around it as it spins. A large black and white skimmer with a long, pointed bill is flying over ocean waves. The background features a cloudy sky and rolling waves.
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I think I enjoy hand building and wheel throwing equally. My upcoming online workshop (previous post) will focus on hand building because it’s the most accessible way to make pottery—no equipment needed. I went through a phase of forming teapots with […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
My hand holding a small, unfired teapot at the leather hard phase, so the clay is still a rich, brown color with a slight sheen. The pot features a stylishly curved handle, a small spout and a lid with a finial that sort of resembles the comb on a rooster’s head or perhaps an abstract flower.
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I’m offering this #virtualworkshop for the second time on Saturday, October 25. If you’ve ever had an interest in working with #clay, I hope you’ll join me. #ceramics used to be a free creative medium but has become an expensive hobby. In this workshop, I […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A promotional graphic in portrait orientation. The background is a photo of my hand holding a lump of dark brown clay above my lap. You can see my green skirt below and the bottom of my striped top at the bottom of the frame. The workshop title “Clay Is For Everyone” appears in all caps at the top of the page. Near the bottom is the text “a virtual workshop” and “Saturday, October 25, 2025 1-3pm Eastern”
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I included these pieces in the exhibition that opened Sunday. The middle piece features the crackled, fragmented surface I wrote about a few weeks back. The two pieces on either end were formed with clay collected from a construction site in Sarasota County […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A photo in landscape orientation of three pots collaged onto a background photo of a Florida clay mine. The surrounding stratified earth is mostly light orange with random patches and streaks of white. 

The two pots on either end are cream colored and much simpler than my usual pottery. The pot on the left is V-shaped and features fine ridges applied to the surface in a symmetry that aligns with the form. The one on the right is a bit taller and curvier with applied ridges that form an X At the center of the piece. 

The vessel in the middle has a spherical body and a long, flared neck. It is a lighter shade of off-white than the other two pieces and features a crackled surface. It sits on a ring wrapped with twine. The vessels and clay background together communicate a natural and earthy aesthetic.
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Thinking about ancient people busying themselves by moving large stones and piles of earth, aligning them with major astrological events. #equinox #busybusy
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@firesidefedi @timnitGebru great conversation! My Ethiopian friends are proud to be from a country that was never colonized so I was surprised when Timnit said that they had! Occupation vs colonization technicality, I guess.

Also, her experience at Google shows how hollow liberalism is. They […]
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Reposted by Pottery by Osa
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Thank you once again to @timnitGebru for joining me on today's episode of Fireside Fedi! Please find the video and audio versions at the following links:

#peertube #vod - https://video.firesidefedi.live/w/ttu29pxU9Dw2BRSncWf2Dp
#castopod #fedicast - […]
Original post on social.firesidefedi.live
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potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I just got back from installing pieces for an #art exhibition that opens this Sunday in Sarasota. If you've read any of my blog posts, you know that working with local materials has been a gateway for me to learn more about #florida geology and Indigenous […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A promotional flyer featuring the names of both presenting artists in bold lettering: Stephen B. White and Osa Atoe. The title "Reenchantment of Nature" is in orange lettering near the top of the page. Two examples of Stephen's digital collages lie underneath the title, featuring a blue feathers in a radial pattern (a kind of mandala) on a variegated orange background and another of a bird with its wings spread flying through a variegated blue and white abstract background  that represents the sky and the silhouettes of other birds. Upcoming event dates are listed below: The show runs September 21-November 14, 2025 with receptions on Sunday Sept 21 and Friday Oct 17. A photo of one of my pots is below Stephen's work, a large, voluptuous vase with swirling, carved patterns, painted in earth tones, sitting in the clear blue water of the Florida Gulf Coast.
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@Kimberley one of my friends has a cardboard shredder. The only thing with that is the shipping weight. It’s much heavier and therefore more expensive.
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I also use a paper alternative to bubble wrap, a brown kraft paper product sometimes called honeycomb cushioning wrap. People often doubt that paper packing products work as well as styrofoam & plastic but I ship fragile #ceramics on a regular basis and maybe have about one shipping breakage per […]
Original post on mastodon.social
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Yeah, we can’t consume our way to an environmentally sound future but #ecommerce isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and I like finding out about different plastic-free packing materials. I use foam peanuts made of corn starch that are compostable (right) and I […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A photo looking down at two piles of materials. On the left, a handful of brown paper pyramid-shaped packing materials. On the right, white puffy foam peanuts made from biodegradable corn starch.
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
I just uploaded clips of #nestanala (1940-2005) and her daughter #jabulilenala showing how they begin coil building a pot. The Nalas are the most renowned Zulu pottery family. Jabulile taught me her coil building technique and gave me more insight into Zulu culture when we spent three weeks […]
Original post on mastodon.social
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I'm going through images to fulfill a media request and wanted to share these with you. These are photos my talented friend Shoog McDaniel took of my #pottery underwater in 2022. Shoog mostly takes photos of people in #nature, focusing on fat bodies, often […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
A photo in landscape orientation of a large, white pot with aqua geometric shapes resting on limestone at the bottom of a freshwater spring. The pot is voluminous with a narrow opening and flattened rim. The geometric shapes are irregular and organic and accented with textured carved lines and small raised dots. The surface of the water shines softly above and the dark turquoise hue of the water can be seen in the background. A portrait in vertical frame: I sit on the dark, weathered edge of limestone bedrock, my legs dangling into luminous, glass-clear blue water. My gaze falls downward into the depths. Resting beneath my feet is a small gathering of my pottery—off-white and light blue vessels glowing softly through the water’s surface. The composition is divided in thirds: the upper band above water, the lower expanse submerged, so that my body and the pottery beneath can be seen in equal clarity. An underwater shot in landscape orientation. My body is visible from my shoulders to my hips. I am wearing a bathing suit and holding a lidded vessel, the bottom in one hand, the top in the other. I am surrounded by clear blue water and a rippled reflection of my body and the pottery dances at the top of the photo. An underwater photo shot in landscape orientation showing a group of pottery resting on limestone bedrock at the bottom of a freshwater spring. The pots are white and light blue. One piece, a smaller bowl closer to the foreground, features a row of small green diamonds. The pots are collected in the center of the photo and limestone rises up on either side of them with clear blue water rippling in the background and above. It's as if the pots belong to this ancient formation, adding to their timeless quality.
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
We took a quick break to celebrate my husband’s birthday and visit some freshwater springs a couple of hours north. The springs remain a crisp 68-70°F year round. After a long hot summer, I needed to feel chilled to the core and refreshed.

#nature […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
potterybyosa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@prabirkc the part about their peaceful adaptation to climate challenges was interesting.