Studio ceramic artist, Jon Hook, creates sculptural work and functional pottery. He received his BFA from Hope College, Holland Michigan in 1986. He continued his own independent research of kilns and pottery in the midwest. In 1997 he opened Hook Pottery Paper Studio in northwest Indiana with his wife, Andrea Peterson. Hook has built his own kilns since 1987 in which he only fires with wood. The wood firing for Jon is a passion. He finds that wood firing is an intense and industrious process. The work emphasizes the use of locally found materials such as clay, straw, and cattails adding color in the form of ash glaze to the surface of the wood fired ceramics. Consistent with his lifestyle, Hooks works reference environmental responsibility alongside an explosion of natural forms. Jon's work is a reflection of his immense respect and concern for the environment he lives in. He creates glazes from the ash of his wood stove that heats the studio and collects rainwater in barrels for studio use. The work that is produced is like no other due to the wood fly ash and plant fiber introduced into the glaze chamber during firing.
