Mikalah Ann Ball,
Ceramic artist

Mikalah creates functional ceramic wares that also serve as canvases for organically occurring spiral designs. She achieves the spiral pattern by combining multiple clays on the potter's wheel to orchestrate mesmerizing, vibrantly contrasting pottery that showcase the upward movement of the spinning clay, which continuously evolves throughout the centering, throwing, and trimming processes. 

While the walls of the vessels feature dynamic and almost fluid swirly patterns, the base of the vessel hints at how the clay appeared before being manipulated on the wheel.  Her marbled work is very similar in style and principal to the Japanese technique neriage (pronounced nair-ee-ah-gee) . Roughly translated "neri" means "to mix" and "age" means "to pull up". The phrase “to mix” refers to combining clays of varied colors, and the phrase “to pull up” references the act of pulling the clay walls up to shape clay vessels on the pottery wheel. The patterns created with this technique are often similar to those found in nature, and inspire the viewer to consider how the clay came to be formed as it is seen now. 

Motivated by a desire to instigate mindfulness and curiosity in both her process and the viewer's experience, Mikalah began exploring the marbling technique after reaching a lull in her ceramic practice. The ever-evolving marbling technique has inspired the last few years of expansion and exploration in her craft, and provides continuous enrichment and stimulation in the challenging technique and organic patterns that emerge.