Ouch. This cup has been really used and abused, but it still delivers. It's made by my fellow potter of the Roan and fellow former resident-artist who-never-left-the Penland community, Stanley Andersen. I first used one of Stan's mugs way back in 1984/85. That one belonged to someone I was staying with in Smithville, Tn. I was assisting at the International Ceramics Symposium at the Appalachian Center for Crafts and I must have used that little mug every morning during my one month stay, because even though I don't have that mug in my hand, it's in my mind's eye. It was probably half the size of this one, pictured. Stan is a master of the brush and has inspired me for a long time.
After I graduated from UT/Knoxville in 1986, I moved to NYC and for a time I made pots there. I used Stan's clay body and glaze base to make majolica at the YMCA on the upper west side of Manhattan. That's where I started experimenting with brushes. I used mason stains on top of the majolica glaze and fired in an electric kiln for 3 years! I didn't paint vines and flowers then, but mostly spirals cleverly disguised as tightly painted concentric circles. The marks I painted were more like grooves in a record. Then I would use other colors to make big Abndersen-like leaf hapes, sort of floating in this field of lines. I'll try to find a slide that I may have kicking around to show you, someday. [right, if I had a nickel for every time I've read that kind of staement in other blogs...]
Well, the coffee's gone and I wired for more work on the new shop. It's a beautiful day, again, and I hope it is for you as well. Thanks Stan for your great pottery and thanks to you, readers for checking in.
