Gayle Batson was born in Fayetteville Arkansas in 1951. She lives in Little Rock, AR. A native Arkansan, Batson fondly remembers summers and holidays on Uncle Pink's hilltop farm in the Ozark Mountains and making leaf forms out of clay. She always was interested in music and the visual arts but it was not until her junior year in college that the artist decided on her life goal to work in clay. After marriage, and a few years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Batson returned to Little Rock and continued to take classes and teach at the Arkansas Arts Center. A dance exercise class helped her with throwing at the wheel, which she finds relaxing.
She first made functional pottery, gradually adding "little beasties" to her pots. Next came a series of "creepy crawly finger spiders." In 1981-1982 she began sawdust firing; she has a general idea of what the chemicals and smoke will do, but likes giving up control of the outcome. Her forms are soft and reflect an interest in nature, especially mushrooms, bones and river washed stones. She has adopted the practice of sealing up her forms with secret messages and things that will rattle. "The inside of the pot is mysterious and still mine," she states. The stone and bone garden, which the viewer can arrange, began in the early 1980s and are reminders of prehistoric sites. A gregarious extrovert, she presents the other side of herself- quiet, contemplative- in her pottery.
Alan DuBois, Curator of Decorative Arts
Arkansas: Year of American Craft 1993 exhibition catalogue