B1
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021
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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021 • B1
OUT OF
THE KILN,
INTO YOUR HANDS
Ceramicist crafts
purposeful pottery
By RAY GARCIA
For The Astorian
S
itting in her Astoria studio, Audrey
Long plops a rectangular piece of
clay onto a pottery wheel. As the
wheel spins, she starts pulling at the
malleable material, rounding its edges
as it becomes more cylindrical. Instead
of forcing a specifi c shape, Long lets
the clay move on its own accord. By the
second or third pull, magic happens.
“It’s that last little moment of pull
when you get to the top, look down
and see what the clay has done in your
hands,” she said. “That moment is
wonderful.”
Long is an award-winning ceram-
icist with more than 18 years of pro-
fessional experience. She is also the
co-owner and creative director of Cam-
bium Gallery, which opened in August
2020.
Long is from Detroit. In ninth grade,
she found that her high school had an
exceptional pottery program, ran by a
teacher who obtained his doctorate in
See Pottery, Page B5
TOP: Kirista Trask, left, and Audrey Long
stand in front of Cambium Gallery.
ABOVE: Long trims off excess material
while fi nishing a cup.
LEFT: Long pulls the wall of a cup.
BELOW: Long pours and dips glaze.
Photos by Tristan Paiige