Christopher Manning

Previously, my pottery was never made with function in mind. Mainly, my pieces have been purely artistic or fall into the generic “candle holder” category. Here, I wanted to make pieces that I could use for my ubiquitous drink, water. This is the first set of mugs for that. I wanted to give the mugs over-sized handles so they would feel sturdy in my hand. It is important to note that to achieve this effect, you must make your handles about twice as big as you want them to be since the clay shrinks considerably during the firing. Therefore, the handles are comically large during assembly. I also experimented with foot designs. The gray and orange mugs have three feet. I will continue to make mugs, though, for my water consumption, I have moved to a much large one since I drink so much water.

I made this piece for a friend and it was one of the first pieces I have made with a specific intent. Most of my pieces start with a basic form and are imagined as I create them. Part of the joy of pottery is watching a piece evolve from one basic idea to another more complex shape; the Striated Vessel is a good example of this. It is a good test of throwing skill to make a functional and structurally sound piece from a sketch. The glaze is shaner white with blue mason stain splattered on it. From this, I will incorporate more splatter effects on future pieces since the technique is simple, but gives a unique result.

This was my first experiment with using multiple clay bodies(stoneware and porcelain). When I first threw the piece it looked much different than it does now. After the piece dried I had to spend quite a bit of time polishing the layers of slip off the surface to expose the multiple clays. The holes were at first a symptom of polishing the surface too thin, but it provided an opportunity for creative inner glazing. The glaze is shaner clear on the outside and cohen red on the inside.