#moon vase

[catherine-white]

Dahlias in moon vase

Catherine White 2024

[mrsterlingusa]

Foo Dogs

[rimsland]

rachel imsland / round vase

[catherine-white]

Catherine White Moon Vase

As a young potter, I was inspired by pilgrim flasks, first encountering those made by Bernard Leach. Searching for the seeds of this idea, I found resonant historical Korean and Chinese forms. My training had focused on bowls as the basis of throwing, so I thought of these shapes as the combination of two bowls turned on edge with an added rim and foot. As I began wood firing, I was attracted to broad, shallow surfaces as a canvas for ash deposits. Though not as spherical as a traditional Korean moon jar, I have called my flatter forms “moon vases” for their moon-like allusions. We built our anagama in 1996 and for 25 years I have made these shapes, altering the feeling by exploring variations in scale, texture, rims, edges, and feet. Each firing has its own nuances, and each series of moon vases has its own focus.

from Pottery Making Illustrated  Jan feb issue 2024

[catherine-white]

I am looking forward to the winter studio, to the promise of new cycles of ideas and to revisiting old ones.

The eye opens like a curtain rising

In the dark, feet search for something real

Consciousness hasn’t happened yet

And the floorboards are skin temperature

A fresh repetition, today will be one more or one less

An impromptu concert strikes up in the kitchen

Maybe this black coffee is the morning bell-

the prize you win for returning safe from sleep

“Morning Bell” by Iman Mersal

[catherine-white]

Shale Moon fall 2016

[catherine-white]

Catherine White

Anagama Fall 2016

Half Moon

h 10.5" w 20.5" d 10"

[catherine-white]

Moon Jar

                    second half of the 18th century           

  Porcelain           

Accession Number: 1979.413.1           

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in

Gallery 233