Adero Willard grew up in New York City and now lives in Chicopee, Massachusetts. She received her BFA from Alfred University in New York and an MFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has taught at Holyoke Community College and as a visiting professor at Alfred University. Adero has completed the Salad Days residency at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine. She has exhibited work nationally and internationally in group, solo, craft shows, and pottery invitationals, and has had her work featured in numerous publications including Black Hands in Clay, New Ceramic Surface Design, and Pottery Making Illustrated, among others.
Her artist statement reads, “A love of clay and a Passion for color and pattern is what fuels my work as a ceramic artist and potter. My diverse ancestry has taken me on a journey of discovery that is intrinsically woven into an ornate visual language made of abstracted shapes, divided space, and layered pattern and color. This language provides me with endless possibilities, through the clay form and surface, to express concepts of identity, history, materiality, and design. Working with clay is as much a desire to create, as it is a commitment to nurture a love of the arts and of the handmade in myself and others.”
Featured in:
New Ceramic Surface Design Molly Hatch (2015)
Graphic Clay: Ceramic Surface & Printed Image Transfer on Clay Jason Bige Burnett (2015)
Ceramics Artist's Handbook: Glazing Techniques Anderson Turner August, editor (2014)
Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color Brian Taylor & Kate Doody (2014)
Electric Kiln Ceramics: A Guide to Clay, Glaze, and Electric Kilns; 4th edition Richard Zakin, Frederick Bartolovic & Sherman Hall (March 2014)
Inspired By Cloth and Clay - Article written by Adero Willard & Soren Johnson
Pottery Making Illustrated (Sept./Oct. issue, 2014)
