Adore April 2021

Rachael DePauw BROADMOOR Artist, Potter rachaeldepauw.com R achael, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, found her passion for pottery while fulfilling a required arts credit during her junior year at

why NEW ORLEANS? I moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University to study engineering. That area of study didn't last long. I randomly took a wheel-throwing class and I just fell in love with the medium of clay. I apprenticed with Alex Williams from Potsalot Pottery on Magazine Street, and he showed me how to make a living as an artist. New Orleans was such a fertile place to start a career as a craft artist, and so many years later, I'm still here! WHAT DO YOU DO TO NURTURE CREATIVITY? That's certainly been a challenge while raising three young children during a pandemic. I've had little time to nurture myself creatively, and I'm hoping this summer will be a reprieve. I'd like to travel to some arts centers to learn some new techniques to bring back to my artistic practice. I've also been exploring new ways to work with clay, and I have been making ceramic jewelry. That's been a huge source of my creative energy, since it uses some of the techniques I'm familiar with, but in a new way. FAVORITE thing ABOUT LIVING IN NEW ORLEANS? The architecture and landscape. I also love that this city allows and encourages people to live in ways that are outside from the traditional norms that were shown to me while growing up in the Midwest. FAVORITE PART ABOUT WHAT YOU DO? Working on the pottery wheel. I love creating something beautiful from a small lump of mud. It also appeals to the competitive side of my personality. I'm always challenging myself to make things taller, thinner, more efficiently with as little bit of clay as possible. FAVORITE QUOTE? I love all of the Al-Anon slogans, but my favorite is "Progress, not perfection."

Tulane. Influenced by the aesthetic associated with New Orleans' Newcomb Pottery tradition, her dinnerware, jewelry, and decorative ceramics feature bold relief patterns and design motifs that reference Louisiana's unique landscapes and indigenous flora. Her tableware has been featured in Garden & Gun, and she was recently awarded a 2021 grant from The Studio Potter. You can find her gorgeous works at The Historic New Orleans Collection and Judy at the Rink as well as at regional art festivals and her eponymous studio.

ADORE • APRIL 2021

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