Bio

Dan Vito has been working with clay for over 50 years. He is one of the owners and co-founders of Fireborn Studios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Dan has traveled extensively and studied pottery around the world. He has a deep appreciation of Asian, Greek, Minoan, and Anasazi pottery traditions in particular. He is informed by and appreciates the many roles pottery plays: as a functional necessity, as a cultural expression, and as ceremonial accoutrements. 

His porcelain work embodies superb craftsmanship, sophisticated forms, attention to detail, and functionality where called for. His pieces span a range of traditional utilitarian ware such as large platters, bowls and vases, to one-of-a-kind sculptural vessels. 

Working primarily on the potters’ wheel, Dan throws carefully proportioned pieces,  frequently assembling them and altering them with an array of tools and techniques. His forms are characterized by a sense of elegance and fluidity, often accentuated by free-form surface decorations and finials, and finished in a wide variety of high-fire glazes, which he formulates and mixes himself. Dan has been a relentless and prolific glaze creator, tester and experimenter, with many notebooks and thousands of test tiles documenting his progress. He is noted for the exceptional quality and variety of his glazes. 

Current trends in Dan’s work include the frequent use of ash glass, large sculpture vessels, and complex glaze spraying techniques.

Dan is an owner of Fireborn Studios and Gallery, and the current CEO of Clay Pittsburgh (www.claypittsburgh.org). He is a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Society of Artists. He is the former president of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh. He began his pottery career in 1972, at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and has been a full time potter, artist, and gallery owner since 1980.

Artist Statement

I see with my hands. The need to touch things, pick them up and hold them made my mother, teachers and shopkeepers nervous. I always had a need to work with my hands, to build, create, and fix things. Working with my hands felt good – was satisfying.

I have been making pots since 1972. It has been a deeply rewarding passion. Thirty years ago I made a copper red vase, and when it came out of the kiln I was so moved by its elusive beauty, I said “If I die today, I will be fulfilled.” That is surely a rare experience for most people. But fortunately, making pottery has allowed me to arrive at that moment more than once.

Every aspect of clay excites me. When soft, it is sensitive and reflects the slightest touch. It is forgiving. It can be reworked, marks added and removed, pieces added and subtracted. A finished vessel is a record of my emotional response to volume, line, form and surface. The final firing resolves, clarifies, and finalizes the piece – hence my studio name, “Fireborn”.

My creative process is both conscious and unconscious. One of the most exciting times for me is in the days after a firing when I select the best works from the kiln and put them in my home: a small pot on the kitchen table, a new rice bowl, a large piece on a sculpture stand in my living room.  I look at them and discover things I didn’t understand at the time they were being created, but which now seem so necessary.

Traditional functional pottery and Asian glazes have always inspired me. I have traveled extensively, visiting ruins, museums and living potters. Functional and ceremonial vessels tell the story of past civilizations. I am part of that continuum—my pottery, like that of ancient peoples, will likely remain for thousands of years. History is important to me. One of the things that I love about pottery is the clay cycle. Clay comes from the rocks of the earth. Fire transforms it, essentially turning it back into rock again. Yet the earth is still evolving, churning out new rocks from the magma within, and swallowing them up again as the continental plates grind against one another. Heat and fire, creation and destruction, over and over. It’s a wonderful cycle. And being a potter lets me play in a small corner of that universe. I sometimes say my pottery is “made from recycled mountains”. 

I strive to blend form and function, science and art, design, color, and texture into beautiful, durable, and desirable objects. Yes, science is a big part of the process. I have experimented relentlessly to replicate the classic Asian glazes, and to develop new ones, and learn about the interactions of the materials I use with one another and with the fire. 

Making and using pottery is a very sensual, kinesthetic experience for me.The balance of a piece, the way a pitcher or teapot pours, how many fingers fit in a mug handle, how the lip of a mug feels on your lips, the ring of a piece when you “ping” it with your finger, the smoothness of a pot’s foot—all these things are important to me. You too, when you hold a pot, sense these qualities, even if on an unconscious level. On the surface, literally, we are all drawn to color. Then, I think we see the form, and appreciate it in terms of the pot’s function. But it is the hands and lips that have the most intimate contact with the piece and where I find the most joy.

My work has evolved over the years. The path has been long and winding. In the 70’s I made 70’s pots. You may know what I mean. We (all potters) did craft shows and our booths were made of barn wood and hay bales. We used stoneware. I wanted to throw 100 pots a day. I designed pots that did not require trimming, so I could work fast, and make lots of them. 

Now I don’t care how long it takes to make a pot. My only concern is that I be totally satisfied with it. I revisit the pot repeatedly before it is dry, sometimes putting it back on the wheel. I make subtle tweaks. I trim carefully. I have concepts to express. Goals to achieve. I see the finished work before I begin. But sometimes I take an inspired detour. I still produce dinnerware, vases, and a variety of utilitarian vessels inspired by classical forms. Other objects I make are less functional and more sculptural, but all my work originates from my love of form and function. Embedded within my sensual creations remains pottery that is functional and wanting to be seen, used and enjoyed.