Brian Horsch

Brian J. Horsch is a potter and an artist focusing on wood-fired ceramic sculpture.  He started sculpting from wood early on in his life, using various scrap and hard woods but later transitioned over to the freedom and flexibility of clay. He tends to focus on animal forms both real and unreal, and has a special affinity with the indigenous species of North America, especially, if the animals have horns, antlers, talons, or tusks.  Within two years of switching to clay as his media, he started exploring the use of wood-fired kilns to finish his work and fell in love with the surfaces that he could achieve using wood firing. His sculptures are made from either porcelain or high iron content clay. He creates each part of the animal on a pottery wheel or by hand building, and then meticulously sculpts each piece to completion.  The complex surfaces and beautiful colors observed on the work is the result of the natural wood ash glaze layering that is possible in a wood-fueled kiln.