About

Greg 'Kele' Hardy
Mechanicsburg, PA
717-881-4839 | KeleGregHardy@gmail.com

I was born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania and began creating micaceous pottery in December 1999. I apprenticed under Felipe Ortega, who is world renowned for his micaceous cookware. The clay I use is hand dug from his ancestral clay pits in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

My art is created in the ancient method of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. It is constructed in the centuries-old practice of “coil and scrape”, the method used by American Indians of the Southwest. The walls are built by adding successive rope-like coils of clay, then thinned and shaped using scraping tools. Once air-dried, the vessel is wet scraped and sanded with a piece of sandstone to smooth the surface. Several coats of slip (a rich liquid form of clay) are applied and burnished with a polishing stone. Firing in an open pit creates the unique color markings known as “fire clouds”. Black finishes are produced by placing the red-hot pottery into a container with organic matter.

My style of pottery is quite varied and is created to be utilitarian. My first pieces were traditional bean pots used for cooking. As I began to produce larger pieces I envisioned them as table lamps. Working with my teacher, we designed a process to fit an oak branch “wafer” into the vessel to secure lamp hardware. This gave me the inspiration to insert an agate to produce a night-light. In addition to cookware and lamps, I have created several ceremonial pieces.