Long Neck Pots!

The work of a potter holds a glimpse into the story of the artist’s life. The very nature of a potters work is found in an evolutionary process. I have had the privilege of devoting my life’s work in a daily creative pursuit with clay. A life devoted to one work affords the opportunity to not only hone excellent skills but to explore an idea to its fullest potential. I walk on this path.

My body of work over the years has themes that continue to come forth. I have been exploring form; particularly the tall elongated necked pouring vessel. As I look back for influences in my life it leads me to my beginnings; my childhood, particularly my mother, Jessie Terrill Wells. She has been a great influence in my life. She always encouraged my creative pursuits and she loved art. In our home my mother was very intentional with the placement of art and hung several Modigliani reproductions in prominent places. I stared at these ladies exaggerated long necks and the asymmetry in their facial features. These women were beautifully unique.

When you look at my work over the last 25 years I have never departed from the exaggerated long neck or the use of gesture in motion. They have evolved over the years until a long neck pouring vessel now gracefully dances upward with the purpose to delight any onlooker. My mother and Amedeo Modigliani gave this. Because of who I am, I continue to pass on this intrigue.

These two ladies hung in our home!

The Pouring Vessel: A Potter's Obsession

Will I ever tire of the Pouring Vessel? I hope not!

 

I have been making pouring vessels of all sizes and shapes for decades. There is something in the nature of the form, that is designed to pour out that keeps me continually captivated. It is not in the using of the vessel at all that intrigues me but rather the very nature of the forms themselves. The container with a purpose of giving away. The upward motion, the negative spaces, lift off the surface, the distribution of weight, the fluidity of motion, the openness and the closed shape, all these things intrigue me.

 

So it comes as no surprise to me that this year the first thing I am thinking about is exploring this form even further. I will be working in new directions with the closed form, the lidded bottle form, and of course the very long neck form. Last year I made three distinctly new shapes that involved many curves and darts (I did not get them photographed and they are all sold) but I have them in my mind and I am going to rediscover and evolve that form as well. Here is a lovely little album of just some of the forms that I made in the last 2 years. I enjoyed looking at them and am now sketching ideas for the next series.

Will I ever tire of the Pouring Vessel? No, I think not!