Along with forks, knives and spoons, dinnerware is considered by most to merely be the hardware for one of the necessities of life in our civilized society.
Although, it can be - and has been - gussied up with everything from floral motifs to abstract starbursts, it largely goes unnoticed when fulfilling its basic function. But for many potters, dinnerware is far more than its functional applications imply.
One only needs to see the work of Dan Schmitt of Eugene, Ore., to understand this. One of four potters in the current exhibition, "Functional Porcelain," at The Clay Place in Shadyside, Schmitt creates dinnerware that goes beyond the basic by helping us find beauty in everyday living.
In an exhibition filled with bowls, plates, platters, jars, teacups and teapots, Schmitt's work stands out largely because all of his pieces are glazed in white and off-white. Void of any surface decoration, the simple glazes further enhance the beauty of his elegant porcelain forms.
"I am currently working with white on white," Schmitt says. "This allows me to focus on form, using the glaze to finish the piece rather than to decorate it. I feel this helps unify the clay and the glaze rather than creating a separation between the two."
With colors reminiscent of cream and butter, the varied pieces line one wall of the gallery's front exhibition space. The shapes are simple with clean lines and smooth surfaces. Thick plates ripple under delicate cups like velvety slabs of cake icing. Jars and bowls stand sturdy with solid walls that buckle at an occasional dimple.
It is these well-placed marks and slight undulations that indicate the personal touch of an artist who is so well regarded that he has been asked to create a line of dinnerware for the shop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery.
In contrast to Schmitt's dinnerware, several heavy platters, two bowls and a vase by local potter Tom Bedger have dark glazes that belie their underlying porcelain clay bodies. Porcelain is prized for its translucency, but in Bedger's work, thick glazes mostly hide that quality.
The bowls are the most interesting, having small indentions on the exterior surfaces that are enhanced by the thick glazes that have pooled in the gaps to reveal the raised surfaces of white clay underneath - a contrast that renders these small objects precious.
Whereas Schmitt's and Bedger's work rely heavily on form, Claire Weissberg's pieces are more decorative. Although no less useful, they combine colorful glazes with indented or applied surface patterns. Weissberg calls her pieces "Claireware" - a moniker that refers to her personal, light-hearted approach to dinnerware.
"I approach dinner sets with an eye toward improvisation," Weissberg says. "I usually start with one piece I like, say a salad plate, and then I borrow elements, mix them up, and create the other pieces in the setting."
A large amount of Weissberg's pieces are included in this exhibition. Together, they further enhance the whimsical, yet functional, qualities of each piece. An undulating black and purple pattern in the bottom of a large salad bowl is repeated in smaller salad plates. Alternating black and white stripes on the sides of teacups are similar to the stripes on a teapot. And a trio of similar, but distinctly different, spotted ice cream bowls sum up the frivolity inherent in all of her work.
Weissberg is from Brooklyn, N.Y., and has been creating her line of dinnerware for more than a decade. She insists that because no two of her pieces are alike, they are best combined in a mix-and-match approach. "In my home, we eat off of the pieces that I have brought home over the years," Weissberg says, "and although they are not a set as such, it works wonderfully."
A most notable inclusion in this exhibition is the work of Kevin Hluch, a potter, professor (Montgomery College, Rockville, Md.) and author of the recently published book "The Art of Contemporary Pottery" (2001, Krause Publications, Iola, Wis.; $34.95).
With more than 25 years' experience creating and teaching art pottery, Hluch is a fitting choice for author of such a book. But it is his pottery that further enhances his unquestionably intense focus on the field. Influenced by his years of experience and his extensive travels in Africa and the Middle East, Hluch has developed a style that is a confluence of cultures.
Several of his jars and teapots in this exhibition combine linear surface patterns and pressings with classic design features such as Chinese-inspired footed bases and English-inspired handles, all topped with lids onto which he has incorporated raised Japanese characters.
Including vases that seem more African than anything else, Hluch's body of work is a mix of influences that quite possibly says more about the transformational nature of contemporary American pottery than his book.
| 'Functional Porcelain' |
