Collection: Sumati and Michael Colpitts

Sumanti and Michael Colpitts have fused their exotic world travels, extensive art backgrounds, love of animals, and passionate predictions into an award-winning line of ceramic sculptures. Each piece is lovingly handmade, never using molds or forms. The result is a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of art that can be displayed either indoors or outdoors.

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Creating in clay is their passion. Michael and Sumanti are fascinated with animals which lead to their fascination with creating animal sculptures. The collaboration is a dance of combing Michael's sense of form, gestures, and facial expressions with Sumanti's artistic eye, attention to detail, and finishing skills. 

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Michale and Sumanti create, design, and make all the pieces themselves using slab, pinch, and other hand built techniques. Subtle variations within each piece are generated by using different colored stoneware, clays, and natural colors. Various textures are also added for accent and to give a sense of fun and elegance. 

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The finished pieces are air dried for 1-2 weeks, then fired in a kiln that reaches temperatures of up to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. The initial firing removes the water and makes the pieces strong. Then the colored washes such as iron oxide and manganese dioxide are added to create more color and depth. The addition of glazes accents the piece and also enriches the whole creative process. The finial firing to 2300 degrees F gives the pieces their final sheens and bonds the clay particles so that the pieces so that they pieces are water tight and may be placed outdoors. 

The finishing process after the firings include adding the glass eyes, wire whiskers, attaching bases or adding final touches of color to enhance each individual piece.