Polly Wood

Medium: Ceramics

CREATIVE BEGINNINGS: From age 10 Polly’s favorite art supplies were a stand up mixer and an oven. Sugar, butter, and flour made up the medium. Stirring in an BA in Art History from University of Oregon and this eventually lead to her 17-year career as a cake designer, pastry chef, and owner of Polly’s Cakes. Her whimsical take on cakes was well documented on an Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Art Beat in 2005. 

ARTISTIC PATH: Amidst all the layers of cake, ceramics had always occupied a special place in Polly’s mind and she thought, ”When I grow up again, I’d like to be a potter.” 

Ceramics certainly inspired her cake forms, and working with a malleable sugar dough known as fondant was very reminiscent of hand building with clay. Having taken numerous pottery classes over the years, including a series with artist Fiona Morehouse up at Mt. Hood town Hall, Polly’s inevitable switch from the sugarcane fields to the clay that lies beneath finally took form.

INSPIRATION AND PROCESS: Apart from pastry, Polly’s work is inspired by the natural world. “Simple things like flower petals, fruit, garden insects, and native plants stop me in my tracks. It is endlessly pleasing to balance random wavy shapes and the earthy textures of clay with simple and colorful surface designs,” Polly notes. 

“I draw designs with glaze pencils on some pieces and use a growing collection of my own hand carved stamps on others. With these stamps, I imprint a medium fire stoneware clay to make a one of a kind ceramic fabric that becomes each piece. Brushing iron oxides on the bisqueware before glazing creates an effect somewhere between a wood block print and a pressed flower.”

LIFE AS A GORGE ARTIST: Polly considers life in Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and Hood River Valley as both a great privilege and responsibility with all its blessings and challenges. “I am grateful for its protected status and for those who defend it everyday. Places like this are nectar to an artist. The play of light, landforms, colors, native flora and agriculture are continually inspiring. Also, so much of being an artist in the Gorge is about the people and their supportive community and how we inspire one another in a very regional way.”

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