Maggie Wells is known for the warmth and texture of her boldly shaped hand-built stoneware sculpture. She starts each piece with a sketch and then uses the coiling technique, imbued with the human touch for an effect that is playful and intentionally unrefined. For her distinctive surfaces, she chooses from two finishes: terra sigillata, which shrinks in the bisque fire and produces a crackled surface, and majolica with a shiny glazed finish. An avid painter since the 1960s with a degree in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, Wells has an eye for composition and form. “ I am constantly turning the piece to make a form that is interesting from all angles -- thus the experience of looking at them can always be refreshed,” she says.