Sunday, August 12, 2007

Martina Round Two












I aim to contain in my pots the softness and subtle irregularity that serve to emphasize the handmade object in today’s machine made world.
I’m searching for forms, decoration and glazes that maintain the dynamic crispness that I love while instilling the vitality of the touch of the maker.

In this spirit, I have begun to explore looser thrown forms, less defined decoration and satin glazes to invite the touch. I am learning it is contrary to my nature to allow glazes to run, lines to blur and edges to wobble. It takes me greater concentration to bring an irregular pot into being than a tight one. In my current work I’m enjoying the tension between some of the crisp rims and bases of the pots and the development of the surface.

As I delve deeper into the overlapping of slip and glaze decoration in various colors and surfaces, my ideas continue to evolve. The brightness of opaque green against the shimmer of transparent amber and what they both do differently over a colored slip allows the mind to wander. They evoke the boundary between field and path, or sky and skyline.

Function remains central to my work. I continue to strengthen my forms by consciously repeating elements throughout foot, handle and rim. By creating a piece that is both unique and useful, I hope to remind people of the value and inherent qualities of human touch.