Fast forward 30 years, Mark rekindled his love for clay when he and his wife, Ginny, opened IDEA Studio on Hilton Head Island in 2012. It was like riding a bike…a little practice and a new potter was born (again)!

In 2020, Mark & Ginny decided to “slow down” their working careers. Not ready to retire, they decided to focus solely on the pottery studio, thus Hilton Head Pottery was born.

Mark A. Taylor • pottery & woodworking

Mark began throwing pottery in his teens at the Arts Center in Middletown, Ohio. He loved the opportunity to be around and learn from other artists…

Mark prefers the potter’s wheel and creates traditional shapes. The artistic aspect of his work comes with the non traditional firing methods and the exploration of combining traditional techniques with new creative ideas. He works extensively in the “Alternative Firing” methods of horsehair, saggar and raku pottery. These firing techniques produce pottery with unique and striking visual effects resulting in pieces that are truly “one of a kind”.

Alternative Firing

Horsehair

Pulling the pot from the kiln at 1250° we quickly apply horsehair to the pot creating a carbon mark for decoration

Saggar

With a nod to an ancient method of protecting pottery here we introduce the pottery to the atmosphere.

Naked Raku

Not a racy as it sounds…this method of firing pottery creates a totally random black & white pattern on the surface