Pottery #1 - Woodfired

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This morning I downloaded a catalogue of a ceramics exhibition by Randy 

Johnston (here), which is on at Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Mass.

It's a great catalogue of great wood fired pottery work.  Here's a quote from 

Johnston's artist statement:

"My wife Jan McKeachie and I met in 1975. We were

married in 1978 and have fired most of our work in

our large wood-fi red Nobori gama (1972-present) or

Anagama kiln (2002-present). The architecture of wood

kilns makes them wonderful objects, creaking, belching,

and breathing...It is an architecture completed by fi re

and containing the violence out of which living pots

emerge. Wood-fi ring is an aesthetic choice; the greatest

issue, regardless of technique and process, is quality

and if the work asks new questions. I want my work to

have a distinctly marked sense of clarity, a deliberate

engagement with art past and present, and continuing

aesthetic discourse with the expressive and conceptual

intent of functional pots.

Firing for days with wood creates a complex of layers

and structures on the work and in one’s mind.

Awareness of this layering brings me to a sacred

place, a memory of a perfect place where we can stop

and play with our minds and voices. With intuition

and ideas we create. Constructing, layering listening

to the echoes. This space also exists often within the

architectural structures of our work as we attempt to

defi ne space, design structure, and deal with symbolic

interpretations. The complex of social interaction and

place of our humanity within this structure is in large

part a continuing expression of my conversation with the

material and process of clay. — Randy Johnston"

This prompted me to take photos of my favourite wood fired pots in my collection 

to share:

Kyle Houser, Josh Floyd, Steve Rose.
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Justin Lambert.
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Josh Floyd.
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Kyle Houser.
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Steve Rose.
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AND:

Ryoji Koie.
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Justin

Josh

Kyle

Steve

AND

Ryoji Koie

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Penny Smith

Cone 6 Suite

Based on prototype Suite 6, exhibited at 'lightworks II',
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 1996Suite 6 prototype reproduced in the exhibition catalogue cover(lightworks II - recent work by Penny Smith, 1996, ISBN 0 7246 4540 3)

2002, ceramic stoneware, porcelain, appr. 160 x 135 x 35 cm