JoAnne Bedient of Fort Myers, Florida received her art training from Fort Hays Kansas State University in Hays, Kansas. Clothing and shoes often influence her work. Many of her bright color combinations and patterns came from a skirt that belonged to one of her daughters at the age of eight. Bedient’s very popular shoe series was conceived when another daughter, as a college student, brought home a funky pair of red patent leather shoes from a resale shop.

Bedient began the practice of raku in 1988 and the majority of her work is fired using this ancient Japanese process. All of her work is hand built. She does not use a potter’s wheel. Her cats, clocks, hearts, bottles, pots and shoes are easily recognized by their black and white stripes, smoke patterns and bold colors.

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