Ben Gufford Ceramics

Ben Gufford Ceramics Educator and Artist - Working with People, Clay, and Pixels

I titled this face jug Tilaka Chakra. This face jug was inspired by a recent visit with my wife and her colleagues to on...
08/29/2026

I titled this face jug Tilaka Chakra. This face jug was inspired by a recent visit with my wife and her colleagues to one of the largest Hindu temples in North America. I have visited several times and during my visits, I have developed a deep appreciation for the temple’s ornate architecture, intricate craftsmanship, and sacred visual symbolism. This face jug respectfully acknowledges the rich artistic traditions and spiritual meanings found within Hindu culture.

08/11/2026

I am looking forward to sharing with the clay art community in October. This should be a fun and exciting time. I’m excited to meet everyone.

I title this face jug “Stormy Monday,” after the T-Bone Walker song later made famous by the Allman Brothers, whose vers...
08/08/2026

I title this face jug “Stormy Monday,” after the T-Bone Walker song later made famous by the Allman Brothers, whose version I was listening to while working on the piece. The jug became a story in which seemingly unrelated experiences meet: North Carolina BBQ, the African roots of the banjo, and even a bright red fire hydrant that recalls my years as a volunteer firefighter. These ordinary images become markers of time, place, memory, and my own lived experience. Within that story, Stormy Monday reminds us that experience moves in rhythms, rising and falling like a wave, gathering like a cloud, and eventually breaking open beneath the sun. The face jug gathers these perceptions into a single object: earth shaped by human hands and carrying Southern memory, music, technology, weather, humor, and mystery. Through Perceptionism, these things do not exist in isolation; meaning emerges from the relationships we discover among them. In the end, the face staring back from the clay becomes a mirror, asking not simply, “What do you see?” but “How are you seeing?”

This face jug is titled The Curator. Inspired in part by Carl Jung’s understanding of symbols and the evolving self, The...
08/05/2026

This face jug is titled The Curator. Inspired in part by Carl Jung’s understanding of symbols and the evolving self, The Curator embodies the Perceptionist idea that identity is not discovered but continually assembled through experience. Like a museum of consciousness, this face jug gathers music, technology, imagination, philosophy, and language into a single evolving portrait. The watchful eyes remind us that perception is an active practice, while the YouTube icon represents the endless stream of modern experience that shapes our attention. Miles Davis’s trumpet speaks to improvisation and the wisdom found in silence, Snoopy celebrates imagination as a pathway to reality, Sattva points toward harmony and clarity, and the ancient Greek τάλαντον reminds us that true talent originally meant balance before it meant ability. Spirals weave these ideas together, symbolizing learning as a continual return to deeper understanding. In Perceptionism, we are all curators of our own consciousness, carefully selecting the experiences, relationships, and symbols that shape how we perceive ourselves, one another, and the world.

08/03/2026

In Perceptionism, a tea bowl is an invitation to participate in reality more deeply. This bowl does not seek perfection through symmetry or polish. Instead, its fractured geometry, softened edges, and quiet translucence ask the viewer to suspend judgment and encounter the object as an unfolding experience. Every seam becomes a memory of touch, every irregular contour a reminder that perception is enriched not by certainty, but by relationship.

The bowl’s luminous surface seems to gather light rather than reflect it, allowing the observer to recognize that beauty is not an inherent property of the object alone but an event arising between the object and the perceiver. In this encounter, the tea bowl becomes a teacher. It slows the mind, interrupts habit, and gently redirects attention from classification toward contemplation. What first appears imperfect gradually reveals coherence, inviting the viewer to discover that understanding is cultivated through repeated encounters rather than instant recognition.

07/28/2026

These are a few works from 2007 I made and sold at Dan Finch’s pottery.

07/26/2026

In the pottery classroom, the most enduring lessons are shaped through relationships rather than technique. As teachers and students share the quiet practices of making, observing, and reflecting, clay becomes a medium for cultivating perception and meaningful human connection (Palmer, 2017). Rather than imposing a single method or aesthetic, the teacher guides students toward discovering their own way of seeing and their own way of making. This reflects the Daoist principle that the deepest teaching does not force outcomes but creates the conditions in which each person may follow their own path (Lao Tzu, trans. Mitchell, 1988). Through the aesthetics of wabi-sabi and the philosophy of mingei, students discover that beauty resides not in flawless objects but in authentic human expression and the dignity of everyday craftsmanship (Yanagi, 1972). The Way of Tea deepens this journey, inviting students to slow down, attend carefully to one another, and cultivate empathy through shared experience. In this way, the tea bowl becomes more than a vessel, it becomes a catalyst for Perceptionism, opening perception and nurturing richer teacher–student relationships grounded in care, attentiveness, and mutual growth (Noddings, 2013).

References

Lao Tzu. (1988). Tao Te Ching: A new English version (S. Mitchell, Trans.). Harper Perennial.

Noddings, N. (2013). Caring: A relational approach to ethics and moral education (2nd ed.). University of California Press.

Palmer, P. J. (2017). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (20th anniversary ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Yanagi, S. (1972). The unknown craftsman: A Japanese insight into beauty (B. Leach, Trans.). Kodansha International.

07/25/2026

In my classroom, beginning students are not taught to simply make, they are taught to open perception. Through principles of wabi-sabi, students learn to appreciate ambiguity, imperfection, and quiet beauty. As their aesthetic understanding broadens, they begin to see beyond technical skill and discover the deeper value of ordinary objects and everyday experience. This journey gradually moves them toward the philosophy of mingei, as articulated by Sōetsu Yanagi, where beauty is recognized not in masterpieces, but in humble, honest, and deeply human creations that emphasize the humanity of an object and not the mechanism of the object.

The Way of Tea is more than the preparation of tea, it is the cultivation of perception. In the quiet encounter between hands, clay, tea, and another person, students learn to slow down, observe, and discover meaning beyond utility. This tea bowl, with its irregular form and expressive surface, invites students to embrace wabi-sabi: the beauty of imperfection, transience, and authenticity. As their aesthetic awareness expands, they begin to see not only objects differently, but themselves and one another with greater empathy and attention. In this way, the tea bowl becomes a vessel for Perceptionism, opening the mind to richer relationships with the world and guiding students toward the spirit of mingei.

I title this face jug Master Wu Wei. Master Wu Wei embodies the paradox of effortless mastery. His watchful eyes see wit...
07/23/2026

I title this face jug Master Wu Wei. Master Wu Wei embodies the paradox of effortless mastery. His watchful eyes see without grasping, his expression remains still amid vibrant complexity, and every mark flows as though it arrived of its own accord. Hidden among symbols, language, and playful imagery, he reminds us that wisdom is not found by forcing life into order, but by moving in harmony with it, allowing action to arise naturally, with clarity, balance, and quiet confidence. Below are links to purchase.

https://ebay.io/m/V2yJ7t

https://benguffordceramics.etsy.com/listing/4542198363

07/12/2026

Quiet texture, simple form, and a few fresh blooms. Sometimes that’s all a piece needs to feel at home. I enjoyed carving this vessel and seeing it come to life in its new setting.

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Wilson, NC

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