Linda explains that she and Charles began their collaboration as artists when they changed their wedding vows to include, “in poverty and absurdity.  She said it was hard keeping a straight face during the ceremony, that it was meant jokingly, but contained more truth than they anticipated. They met when they were both graduate students in the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University in Southern California and ventured into pottery while working full time in public health. Although both had backgrounds in art, Linda was working in clay for the first time, and Charles was returning after a break from his several years as a full time production potter.

Linda started in sculpture, but the influence of her Anthropology background led her to making her own versions of ancient masks from cultures all over the world. Meanwhile, Charles was learning and perfecting numerous raku techniques, also influenced by ancient cultures. Their work began to merge when Linda started carving and burnishing pots Charles made, and they would fire them using techniques reflecting methods of ancient cultures. When she has time, Linda still does her own raku and saggar fired wall pieces, sculpture and jewelry. For most of their work, however, they share responsibility. Together they build a two-chambered climbing wood-fired kiln with the top chamber salted. They are still experimenting with a variety of clay forms, slips and glazes to use in the wood and salt atmospheres, but have perfected sawdust firing in a saggar and a variety of raku firing techniques.

Charles, given the freedom to experiment in his early years, developed a keen interest in shapes, colors and chemistry, which led to his love of clay and fire as an art student at La Sierra University. Now, more than 25 years later, he is still challenged by new glazing and firing techniques. The creative experience for Charles is balanced between structure and chaos. As Charles explains, “I create with a plan, exacting straight smooth lines from the clay…When the forms are finished, I have blank white canvasses that are later submerged into a chaotic atmosphere of fire, smoke and chemical fumes… The beauty of controlled form is transcended by the limitless patters of serendipity.” His recent works include vessels of sagger-fired porcelain, pit-fired earthenware, and exciting new raku pots with layered glazes, free-form brush work and carved or altered surfaces.

Since both of these artists began their work in California, I inquired as to why they chose North Carolina. It was on a visit to some relatives, they explained, that they discovered the beauty in the area — and how few people there were. Linda described that she can drive many miles from their place in the woods and not see another car. She says that if there are more than three cars at a stop sign, she gets downright cranky. We are delighted they have agreed to put up with Bay Area traffic long enough to present CAG’s February Master Potter Workshop.

About the Artist

Charlie and Linda Riggs are partners in clay as well as life. Both of their finely skilled aesthetics work together beautifully as seen in their sensual forms and surfaces. Together, they have perfected their work in saggar fired techniques and surface applications.

Charlie and Linda Riggs are known for their work with terra sigillata and their use of a unique blend of chemicals, wire, sawdust, and other organic material in the saggar firings which produce the palette of soft colors and designs ”fixed” on the finished burnished surface. They exhibit an amazing control of the atmosphere within the saggars which consistently produce desired and sometimes surprising results. With a wealth of knowledge on this process, they delightfully share all with students.

Charlie sees his work as a metaphor of creation: chaos brought forth into order, and structure in a continuous dance of balance.” I see my work reflecting this balance. I create with a plan, exacting straight smooth lines from the clay and creating curves that mirror the spheres and ovaoids of the natural world. When the forms are finished, I have blank white canvasses that are later submerged into a chaotic atmosphere of fire, smoke, and chemical fumes. There is a particular joy in using this creative method. The beauty of controlled form is transcended by the limitless patterns of serendipity.”
 Linda’s MA in Anthropology has nurtured her enamorization with clay and sculpture. The highly burnished and carved relief symbols of diverse cultures have found their way into her work. She also uses these learned techniques on the beautiful thrown forms created by Charlie thus providing a beautiful collaboration of their individual artistic visions.

Linda is influenced by the beauty of the natural world. She utilizes smooth natural surfaces she admires in rocks as well as organic patterns of which her fuming techniques hint. It is with the whispers of the past and its processes that she and Charlie “recreate” variations on the clay surface. The techniques, as old as the ancient cultures she has studied, speak to her of a sense of continuity through time and of commonality of form and the creative process.

The Riggs’ work has been featured in numerous articles found in Clay Times as well as Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, and included in the most recent update of “Raku, the Practical Approach by Steven Branfman.” their work is found in public and private collections in t he U.S... & Norway.