A former Hampshire College student, Lucas May stayed in Western Massachusetts, where he has found a network of artists. He uses a combination of wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques. He typically works with a variety of stoneware clay bodies, and prefer a clay with some grog and tooth to it.
"With my wood-fired work, the atmosphere in the kiln does most of the surface design. There’s wood ash and salt vapor deposited on each pot in a one-of-a-kind way. With my electric-fired work, there’s a loss of that atmosphere. At first, this was kind of jarring, but I’m taking advantage of what the lower temperature and different atmosphere can do: for example, I can get much brighter colors."
