Looking through windows of one kind and another

It has been a very cold and snowy winter here in western Massachusetts. Having a view of the river from my pottery studio is one of the things I always look forward too about coming in to work. However, this winter all that view has done is reinforce the conditions.

So while March is making me look forward to Spring's warmer temps, I am also looking forward to being one of the ceramic artists included in AKAR's annual Yunomi Invitational. The show has not yet been posted to their site, but I will send out a link once it is. I was in the show last year too, and every piece sold -- so get there early!

Yunomi (or Unomi, depending who you ask) are one of the ceramic forms I most enjoy making. I like the proportion; I like that since it lacks a handle there are new ways to think about how it is held; I like that AKAR is a venue that cultivates the internationality of pottery.

My designs on the pieces included in this year's show follow a theme similar to the this one. 

If you know my work, you might be surprised by the mono-chromatic nature of this design. Don't worry: I am not about to abandon color!

But I do enjoy how the positive/negative contrasts become more prominent with a pared down palette. I like the "windows" that the decoration moves through and around, and alterations to the form that invite the hand to hold it.

In some new pieces that I am in the process of making now, I am taking some of these ideas a step or two further. I want the geometry and the organic elements to interact more. (That light blue you see is the wax I use for resist techniques.)

The natural light helps take some sting out of the winter.

Besides yunomi as a drinking vessel, I am working on some pots that bring some of the same proportionality and design theme to different objects. There is something about the ceremonial quality that is making me excited to see how these will come out (they are waiting for their first firing).

So here's to March and new beginnings...and getting to summer.