GALLERY
VASES
Grass pot, 1972. Wheel-thrown and altered. Stoneware, 40.8 cms h. Made at Rose Park, Adelaide. It is in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Photo NGA. the NGA purchased a series of pots which I called 'grass pots.'
I describe the mid 80's as my 'Mingei' period. After having returned from living in Japan in 1974 I stopped teaching in 1975 and all income came from my workshop. Our gallery was managed by my wife. Everyone seemed to associate pots of this period as my 'Japanese' period. Certainly this sort of pot paid our bills. It is a stoneware pot, 34 cms h. It is not always easy to attain fluidity in brush strokes. Wheel-thrown, the sides were batted flat when the pot was leather-hard.
This vase was made in 1977-78. Stoneware, 35 cms h. In those days I was doing many experiments with glazed pots placed in saggars, in direct contact with fuel. This pot is in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. ( The blue colour in the glaze is not derived from a colouring oxide but is referred to as a 'phantom' colour, a product of the firing itself.