DANA GOFORTH’S early years are clearly evident in her work today. Roaming the California hills surrounding her home, she developed an intimate relationship with the natural world. Dana’s first encounter with clay occurred in a creek full of tadpoles, rotting leaves and chunks of indigenous blue clay. That clay found its way back home where she made mudpies under an elder oak tree and decorated them with acorns and wildflowers. After drying, Dana placed them in the gutter, gushed water on them, and was mesmerized as they dissolved. At five years old, she was fascinated with the interaction between the simple materials nature offered; earth, water, flora and light.

At 10, Dana began throwing on the potters wheel and made her first teapot at 11. She continued to refine her art at Walnut Creek Civic Arts and later graduated from San Francisco State University in ceramic sculpture. Then something unexpected happened. Dana took a road trip. For nearly a year, she traveled to 10 western states in a 1969 green van. Dana visited numerous artists studios, experienced unfamiliar firing techniques, and, most importantly, learned new ways of seeing herself as an artist.

Since that journey, Dana’s exploration of life has drawn her closer to the elemental spirit of nature — its unparalleled beauty, its connectedness, its raw power — and by extension, her intimate relationship with clay. 

 “I begin each piece with a thought or feeling; then I listen and the clay never fails to speak. As I twist, form, and squish, I watch how the clay molds and breaks. A rough edge. An unexpected ripple. An incidental poke. Those are the words of my clay; a language expressed through motion”.