When creating a design, I start with a feeling, then move on from there. I feel the clay in my hand and then decide what the form will be. Many times I am surprised with the results. As a studio potter, I love rich glazes that invoke whispers of the earth and thrown forms that echo the harmony of desert landscapes and unbroken vistas. I am inspired by nature as well as Italian, African and Asian art.

I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the United States of America. A city embedded in the lush Sonoran Desert, ringed by beautiful mountains, and crowned with clear blue skies. I also studied architecture and worked in Florence, Italy; where the river, the streets, and the people exist simultaneously in the present and in the time of Michelangelo’s Renaissance. These experiences connect me to the past.

A student of architecture, I was educated and employed as an architect in Tucson, Arizona, Mexico City, Mexico and Florence, Italy. Currently, I consult in the field in New York City.

This architectural training provides a structural context for the organic movements of my work.

Beebe Okoye