Mystery Pot

The maker of our Mystery Pot 43 is Helen Naha, the matriarch of a Hopi-Tewa clan of potters who sign their pots with a stylized feather. Our pot is a beautiful example of her Black on White pottery. The Awatovi star design was revived by Feather Woman over her lifetime. One of several designs she developed from shards she collected from the Awatovi ruins.

Read on for a detailed biography of this remarkable Native American Pottery Legend by Grey Wolf Gallery in Arizona. Visit their website https://greywolfgalleryaz.com/ for old and current Native American Artist.

Wayne Higby is an acclaimed ceramic artist, beloved Professor of Ceramic Art at Alfred University, and Director of the Alfred University Ceramic Museum. Wayne Higby was born in 1943 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He received his BFA from the University of Colorado/Boulder in 1966. The landscapes of his youth were a lasting influence in his life and work.

The potter's life as lived by Gerry Williams was exceptional. Gerry Williams will always be remembered for his outstanding contributions to the field of ceramics.

Forty years of innovative ceramic work began with functional earthenware made with red clay he dug from New Hampshire's mudflats. Always changing and evolving, his lifetime body of work includes red earthenware, porcelain, and stoneware; gas-fired and wood-fired; functional ware, sculptural forms, wall plagues, and bold political sculpture. His original research in wet fire technique and his photo resist technique were groundbreaking.

Co-founding both Studio Potter and Phoenix Workshops with his wife Julie in 1972, the Williams were able to share Gerry's love of and enthusiasm for our humble medium worldwide. A potter's life well lived, indeed.

“That was the nice thing about clay,” he said. “If you didn’t like the way something really was, you could always fix it up,”

The exuberant, playful work of David James Gilhooly made him an international sensation in the late 60s through the early 80s. His whimsical ceramic creations began with animals, including zebras and anteaters, and then there were frogs, lots and lots of frogs.

Born into a long lineage of accomplished, traditional pueblo potters in 1970, Cavan Gonzales has added his unique 21st-century interpretation. He has been a leader in the revival of San Idelfonso polychrome pottery. This technique involves the application of three or more layers of colored slip to create designs. Cavan's fine graphic arts skills have been applied to creating new designs inspired not only from the past but also the present by adding elements of technology such as solar energy.

“This technique provides a wide range of bright, sharp colors. More importantly, I feel the majolica technique best allows me to convey the kind of attitude or feeling I want my pottery to invoke – that is one of lightheartedness.”

Stanley Mace Andersen’s functional earthenware tableware certainly achieves his goal. The exuberance of his flowing brushstrokes creates a rush of good feelings, like a walk through a meadow on a perfect summer day.

In England, where Richard Batterham was born in 1936, he is considered the leading living maker of domestic stoneware. It’s a reputation that has been made by a life spent diligently working with discipline and talent to perfect his functional forms and lovely muted glazes.

Interested in craft and design from a young age, Richard studied at the Bryanston School. He was taught pottery by Donald Potter who had worked with Eric Gill and Michael Cardew. After his National Service, he apprenticed with Bernard Leach at St. Ives for two years. He married Dinah Dunn in 1959, and they set up housekeeping in Durweston, Dorset.

Bringing movement to the traditional forms of pottery has always been on James Lawton’s mind. Early work has floating furniture, falling pots, and clothing flying by as if inhabited by the Invisible Man. In many pieces, there are several constructed forms coming together to make a flowing, cohesive statement, while always maintaining the utilitarian functionality of his vessels, teapots, vases, and flasks.

“The 1960s was an unbelievable period in American life. No one can imagine the full extent of the social forces of change at work during this time without living it. On my trips to San Francisco, I experienced the full bloom of hippie life. The Vietnam War, with all its social unrest, had powerful ramifications throughout the USA in daily life and in academia. Furthermore, there was a dramatic surge in the Bay Area into funk art, which manifested itself in ceramics through the use of bright colors, erotic images, narrative and the use of mixed media…It was a direction that worked perfectly for me and gave me the freedom to let my craziness run amok. I became my own man and expressed my sarcastic wit through images and titles in my artwork.”

“For over forty years I have been compelled to make these curious forms. Usually, they are vases but sometimes they become teapots, bowls or jugs and sometimes they don't have a name. Their creation has given me joy, despair, friends, money, and backache.”

- Geoffrey Swindell