THE RECALCITRANT POT

In an email exchange with a friend, I mentioned that I had started throwing terra cotta and unlike stoneware, it was getting the upper hand and certainly not just going along. He joked that I needed to show that recalcitrant pot who was boss. Since I am in the midst of an extended terra cotta cycle, it seems like every day is more challenging then it needs to be. I have been making pots for a variety of surfaces, including black & white slipware, carved tebori and abstrakt resist. I have made a number of forms from small bowls and molded trays to composite vases, covered jars, pasta bowls and plates and now am on to some throw & altered and constructed forms.

In order to mix things up, yesterday I threw a group of 4.5 lb cylinders, without bottoms and later pushed them oval. Today I set about giving them slab bottoms and handles, ending up with a series of oval serving pieces. I am intending to decorate these in abstract resist once they have dried. Trying to get them exactly as I wanted them, as they area bit larger at 17” long, they just seemed to flop around, kicking back and deciding on their final shapes, though I exerted what control that I could. In the end, these pots aren’t that defiant, but terra cotta is unforgiving and no where near the ease of working with stoneware. Tomorrow, once I have tooled some pasta bowls, I’ll set about making parts for a new composite covered jar idea that I have, as they say in Poker, I am going all in.