To me, there’s nothing sexier than a handmade piece of pottery. They are like jewelry for any table setting. And what’s cool is that a variety of techniques, practiced for many centuries in the making of pottery, still hold up to this day.
One of those important techniques is ‘glazing.' It’s that stuff that is applied to porcelain or stoneware to provide added design, color and sealant (so you can put water in your pot without it running out). Artisans themselves have to become scientists to understand and make their glazes (part silica, potassium, alumina, copper carbonate, etc) and then become gamblers – as they never know what the end result will be when the finished piece is taken out of the kiln.
I judge the pottery pieces I acquire not only for the shape and materials an artist uses but foremost by the artist’s mastery, sensibility and understanding of the glaze and the inherent beauty its application provides to the piece.
Shown above is a 1970 bronze-glazed porcelain and bronze-glazed stoneware bowl by Lucie Rie (British born potter from Austria 1902-1995).
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