What piece of pottery could define the work of potters in the early 21st Century?| Jan. 9, 2010

[Chris Campbell]

Another great question from a forum participant ...

 

What piece of pottery could define the work of potters in the early 21st Century?

 

If you can imagine an archeologist digging up a defining piece, which one would you hope they find? Why?

What would you hope they don't dig up? Why?

[Chris Campbell]

I guess I would say the lone studio potter's work would define a section of it for me.

It is only now, at this particular time that we believe that one person should be able to do all aspects of the potters job. They design, throw, trim, decorate, fire ... then top it all off with marketing it.

In other times and in other cultures each job is considered a skill in itself and as such each skilled person contributes to the finished piece.

So I would hope they excavate a one potter studio and are blown away with the breadth of their skills.

[SShirley]

Maybe something with slip applied such as a Steven Hill. That seems to be all the rage lately.

[LawPots]

Steampunk/victorian-themed and mechanical theme pots - artists like Tim See and Paveen "Beer" Chunhaswasdikul. There's a lot of potters making work that has metal elements, or the appearance of metal objects - this isn't new, obviously, but I think in the long run, those pots are going to stick out. Pots with metal themes made it into most of the 500 collections, and recent Smithsonian craft fairs.

 

Also, laser printed decal pots and pots with gothic imagery, like Zygote (Fetish Ghost) and Keith Phillips.

[Benhim]

Cone 6 white stoneware pottery with runny matte micro-crystalline glazes. I've seen a lot of bulbous forms, in all sizes from mugs to large vases. That seems like "the style" of the times to me anyway.