Fractionalizing Functional Pottery

This little piggie is glazed with Coleman Red-Orange.

This little piggie stays home: I’m not going to display it for sale at the Village Gallery, where my stuff hangs out. It’s got Cobalt Turquoise and White Liner going for it, and I can’t wait to put some Cottonwood flowers in it after Denise and I move there.

This little piggie went wrong, or not: Coleman Red-Orange again, and Cobalt Turquoise, but the Red-Orange morphed to a sort of red iron oxide just below the rim. But the ribbing was consequently better defined with that thinness. Still, I wish I’d kept the vessel inverted/immersed longer in the glaze.

This little piggie DID go to market; after being rejected by the Yavapai College Juried Art Show, I gave it shelf space at the Village Gallery, and a $35.00 price tag. Within 24 hours it was purchased by the spouse of one of my fellow artists–and there was a thank-you note in the cash envelope! Moral: Rejection need not be Forever.

And this little piggie is going Wee Wee Wee all the way to the Valley of the Sun. It was commissioned by, and made especially for, stellar Valley poet Bill Campana. I’ve upended it to reveal the signature/date format I use. Feb 6 on top, 2013 on bottom, and my signature in the middle, with the O of Bowers coinciding with the center. Atypically, since this is a commissioned work, I’ve added “Made exclusively” (below Feb 6) and “for bill campana” (above 2013. Bill texts almost entirely in lowercase, including his name) to the foot inscription. (The bottom of a functional ceramic vessel is called the Foot. Other body parts, like Lip and Belly, come into play as well when a vessel is described.)

It has been too long since my “One with Clay” featured clay. Feels good!