Rhonda touched clay for the first time since high school when she took a Tile and Extrusion course at the Haliburton School of the Arts in 2007. She combines earlier explorations in printmaking, both relief and collagraph, with her ceramic practice to create unique surface decoration. Her lidded boxes with collagraph plate impressions have been published in 500 Prints on Clay, Lark Crafts (2013). A hand-builder, Rhonda was introduced to soft-slab construction in 2015 in a workshop with Heather Smit that opened her eyes to a new way of making.

Rhonda is drawn to the minutiae in everyday life, the delicate details created by the hand of man or Mother Nature that, in our hurried lives, are overlooked by many. Delicate lace, leaves and flowers, shells and other objects are used to create lasting impressions on the highly receptive clay surface. Tiles are Rhonda’s preferred way to express herself with clay and she often incorporates printmaking techniques into her work. Carving her own linocut and plaster stamps enables her to put a personal mark on the clay surface.

Rhonda has been working in her home studio in Newmarket since 2010. In 2014, she became a Studio Member of the Pine Tree Potters Guild in Aurora and now avails herself of the many amenities there. Rhonda has participated on the Newmarket Studio Tour since 2010. Her work can be found in the Craft Ontario Shop, the Gardiner Museum Shop, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Shop, and the Aurora Cultural Centre Gift Shop.

Photography by Rhonda Uppington