Did I mention what a terrible blogger I am? I’m currently catching up so I can stay on top of the spring pottery events this year. Last April, as per usual, I volunteered to help run the checkout area at the Dallas Pottery Invitational. The core group of artists is always interspersed with a fresh group of invited visiting potters. For more info on this year’s invitational: Dallas Pottery Invitational.
First on the docket, we have some cheeky pots by Andrew Gilliatt. Hailing from Helena, MT and the Archie Bray Foundation, this excellent potter uses technology to his advantage. His slip-cast pots feature strong formal lines with precise glazing and often humorous repeating decals, such as in the case of the hot dog shaped unglazed areas filled with tiny dachshunds.
They’re all great pieces, but I bought the horse head mug shown in the photo above. Equestriennes FTW!
Next up, please enjoy the work of core group potter Lisa Orr. A self-proclaimed synaesthetic, the glazes reflect a sort of frenetic energy often accompanied by the mixup of concrete concepts and colors in her mind.
Daphne and Gary Hatcher of Pine Mills Pottery brought a boat-load of pretty pots as usual. Gary’s somehow more masculine ware favors the kind of scale and simplicity commonly associated with a male-friendly aesthetic.
I’m especially crazy about the altered vases with the large swirls, and the giant faceted bowl.
Daphne Hatcher utilizes more complex glazing techniques and different ornamental forms. Her technique of wax-resist glazing copper red on top of a black base was one of my favorite go-to glaze applications in my college days.
The pattern variations always attract me to her lively pots. Those quiet little round boxes may still be my favorite form in her repertoire.
For the wood-firing set I’m pleased to present the work of Liz Lurie. Between sumptuous dark clay bodies, slips, flashy shinos, and earthy forms she finds a magic combination of elements.
Employing frogs to secure flowers upright, the baskets always attract my gaze. The bowl with large ear-shaped lugs has a gorgeous form and great visual lift.
Once a Dallas area potter, now Amy Halko calls California home. Utilizing porcelain with inlaid slip and glaze decoration, her cone 6 pots exhibit a strong aesthetic vision. During her time as an adjunct and special student at SMU I grew familiar with her work and have several iterations of her ever-changing work in my collection.
Invitee Doug Peltzman followed up a demo session at the Utilitarian Clay Symposium by hauling a load of his incredible porcelain pots to Dallas. His slow and meticulous process made me feel a little less crestfallen about the drudgery of decorating ware in my own studio. Runny glazes designed to catch on the periodic horizontal ridges punctuated by inlaid black line drawings cover his thin-walled vessels.
I buckled and brought a large jar home from his available assortment of pots. It now houses candy and cookies in a place of honor on my dinner table.
Following a totally different aesthetic path, Hiroe Hanazono adores simple forms, muted glaze hues, and such mundane objects as cafeteria trays for their compartmentalized function.
Nesting smaller vessels in specifically designed indentions is such an ingenious solution.
Between thrown forms and hand-built ware small drawings appear on David Eichelberger‘s impressive pots. We celebrated his birthday here in Dallas during the invitational, hopefully staving off the homesickness for his lovely family somewhat.
The irregular lobed mugs have the sort of intimate size that keeps them flying off the table. Although I’m perpetually drawn to black pieces so I coveted the following vessels with their delicate hint of color punctuating the differing black surface textures.
Another recent participant at the UC Symposium, I was happy to see Kip O’Krongly and her concept-rich earthenware vessels. I couldn’t help but snag a bicycle dinner plate and ostrich bowl.
The carved yellow bird salt and pepper shakers are probably the most labor-intensive of her pieces.
Driven by the sometimes questionable relationship between large-scale agriculture and nature the pieces exhibit a precarious blend of hope for the future through returning to simpler lifestyles and resistance to such practices as using birds to detect poisonous gases, crop-dusting, and GMO foods.
The DPI always confronts me with an exciting new assortment of work so I can hardly wait for April to get here already! Stay tuned for my next installment, a recap of the Art of the Pot studio tour from last May.