adrina richard

Adrina Richard has been a longtime collector of pottery. She still is. But now Atlanta ceramic artist hand builds her own, incorporating textures that reflect her Armenian heritage.

Artist: Born in New York to parents who were immigrants and survivors of the Armenian genocide in Turkey. As a first-generation American, Richard grew up in a creative family.

Her father, a graduate of Yale School of Music, was a professional musician. Her mother, a homemaker, was gifted in sewing, crocheting and knitting and later influenced Richard’s art.

In 1965, Richard moved from New York to Atlanta to attend Georgia State University. After graduation, she headed to Canada to pursue a career as a bookseller.

After four cold years, Richard returned to Atlanta, where she worked as bookstore manager and in other positions at Oglethorpe University for 35 years. She retired in 2008.

Company/studio: Adrina Earthworks started in 2009. Since 2020, the artist has worked in her home studio in Brookhaven, in the Atlanta area.

“Pottery links the shaper, users, and admirers together,” said Richard. “Working in clay presents infinite possibilities.”

In the beginning: Five years before Richard retired, her best friend urged her to try a pottery-making session at MudFire, a pottery studio created in 2001.

Richard, who had never taken an art class but was a collector of ceramics, was hooked. She made her first pot in 2004.

By the time she retired, Richard was going to MudFire as often as she could. She later worked as an artist-in-residence and studio assistant for two years at MudFire Clayworks & Gallery in Decatur, GA

Art & materials: Primarily hand-built, stamped and textured forms, mostly vessels, with stoneware and porcelain. ($25 to $700).

Vessels, including baskets, bowls and bottles, feature glazes on the interior for contrast and functionality.

To add texture on the outside, Richard incorporates stamps, some she has bought and others she has made, like a stamp of her grandmother’s lace.

Favorite or must-have tools: Knife, slab roller and any texture that interests me, including a rolling pin, wallpaper roller, paddles, brushes, wire clay cutter, and sponge. “I collect tools but only use a few,” said Richard.

Inspirations:

Ancient pottery.
Inuit art, which she learned about in Canada.
Archeology and works of ancient peoples. “The creation of art in caves and on vessels has always fascinated me,” said Richards.
Her mother, who had a wonderful sense of fabric design and texture.

Special commission: An urn for a friend with and Armenian khatchkar (cross) on it.

What’s next: 20th Annual Fired Works show in Macon. April 25 to May 3. Fired Works began as a local pottery show and has grown to become the largest exhibit of functional and sculptural pottery in the state of Georgia.

Where to buy: