Christopher Manning

Mugs

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 oversized 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. Therfore, the handles are comically large during assembly. I also experimented with foot designs. The grey and orange mugs have three feet. I will continue to make mugs, though, for my water consumption, I have moved to a refactored vase since I drink so much water.

Spotted Vase

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.

Striated Vessel

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 oppourtunity for creative inner glazing. The glaze is shaner clear on the outside and cohen red on the inside.

Porcelain Altered Form

This was a time when I had two boring pieces and decided to instead fuse them together to make one memorable piece. The glaze is shaner clear.

Porcelain Cylinder Variation

This simple alteration on a basic cylinder shape is more aesthetically pleasing than I would have expected. shaner white glaze.

Sea Creature Cylinder

My technique of altering cylinder shapes into a sea sponge inspired shape has become a favorite of mine. The glaze is cohen red that became blue in the reduction firing.

Extremely Altered Cylinder Form

This piece was initially a sea sponge inspired shape, but as I was carrying it from the wheel to my shelf it fell off onto the floor. From throwing, I have committed to not throwing away any pieces, even it they fall on the floor. The wonderful part of this piece is how well it turned out even though it had a rough beginning.

Stoneware Pitcher

A stoneware pitcher. This was one of the first pieces that I made of this size that looked professional.

Mixed Clay Vase

A simple vase with throwing lines left in. The outside glaze is cohen red that turned blue and the inside is temoku over cohen red.

Anemone Flower Pot

This is a piece that you really have to get your hands on to appreciate. I got this idea after a few failed cups and I love the way the shape and glaze came out. Many people say it looks like some sort of sea creature. Right now it functions as a great lavender holder for beside my bed. This piece started my interest in altering forms and getting a bit more unconventional with my work.

Aged vase

Stoneware with matte white glaze. This was the first piece I was really proud of.

Cityscape

This is one of my first hand built pieces. I really enjoyed the process of rolling out slabs of clay and cutting out interesting shapes. This actually started as a question of what to do with all these oddly shaped leftover slab cut-outs. It ended up turning into one of the pieces that I am most proud of.

Tapered lip vase

This was the first vase I made of that size and with the body shape I wanted. The lip is a result of my tendency to throw really thin walls. At first it started as an accident, but I really loved the way the lip was transforming. So, I pulled the lip tighter and with a quick start and stop of the wheel, the shape was done.

Putting the glaze Josh Green over the glaze Josh Blue causes a lot of streaking. I wanted that effect to highlight the imperfections in the lip. It came out better than I could have expected. The Josh family of glazes are always so unique after they are fired. You have to cross your fingers and hope it comes out the kiln like what you had in mind.

Textured Surface Cylinder

This piece represents a few experiments for me. This was the first time I was throwing with porcelain, so I tried to make a very basic shape to make sure I get an understanding of how it reacts differently than stoneware. Secondly, it was a test palette for my idea of texturing. What you see on the bottom is actually a negative impression of the glaze after I affixed drywall tape to the piece, applied glaze, and removed it leaving a grid-like impression. The upper ring was achieved by putting two pieces of masking tape on the piece and painting glaze between it.

Porcelain pouring cup

One of my main motivators for starting to work with porcelain was how much I loved the clean and homogeneous surface of glazes on top of porcelain. I meant this to be an example of that by combining a simple design and glaze in a very precise manner.

Spiral glazed vase

This is another example of using masking tape to create a dramatic contrast between the clay body and the glaze. When using this technique it is really important to let the glaze dry as much as possible before you remove the tape. This will give you a much cleaner line after you remove the tape and will prevent the glaze from cracking off as you pull off the tape.

Tall cup

I have noticed that I don't use my pottery functionally. Mostly, it just looks good. When I was sifting through my pieces to see if I had anything that I could use functionally, this piece presented itself. I really love the stark contrast between the inside and outside glaze. The texture on the outside provides an easy grip and the lip is suitable for drinking. This piece also has the distinction of most intriguing glaze surface. Once glaze has been fired it is very similar to glass. This beautifully illustrates that with the sharding you see in the texture. Surprises out of the kiln like this can be the greatest gift you can get from making pottery.