Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Terry Gess studio

Tuesday was our field trip day. We visited Penland School, the subject of another post on another day, and the studio of our instructor, Terry Gess. Terry has a Master's of Fine Arts degree and a wealth of experience, including teaching at Penland and studying in China. He uses a wood-fired salt-glazing kiln big enough to walk into. The brick walls themselves are glazed from years of use.His technique uses colored slips over stoneware, to create his own unique style. His work is beautiful and the muted earth tones speak to me. His forms are interesting; he makes a lot of square pieces. For someone who still struggles to make her pottery round, I have a hard time wrapping my head around pottery that is deliberately altered to other shapes, but I can appreciate the skill and effort that goes into every one of his pieces.











please click to enlarge and appreciate the art pottery









A potter's porch in North Carolina

Tomorrow: We find a surprise on that porch ...

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh, very nice. You got me that one vase that's got the tone-on-tone design, right?

I like the honey-colored stuff with the lines and dots, too. Is that color rendering accurate, or is it darker/yellower becs. of the light?

Kathi said...

The one that's $325? Yeah, it's your Christmas present (NOT!)

The color is a little darker yellow than real life - should have adjusted my white balance to "tungsten."

~K

holly said...

I recently returned from an emergency trip to Alaska (email on the way) and my cousin collects pieces from a local potter whose work he admires. He has about 6 currently and is working on a display shelf for them. He had one bowl...oh man, I wanted it so bad...about the size and shape you'd use to put fruit in maybe, on a counter. It was blended layers of blues, purples and pinks, with some green drips running down the inside. I told him I would take it and if he really wanted it back he'd have to come to Delaware.

I also saw (thanks to my uncle, a birder of 50+ years), a bald eagle, a magpie and a junco of some type (I forget).