Inspiration

“I had an assignment in school to imitate some carved Chinese porcelains. I spent a semester in Paris living in an Art Nouveau building. Then there’s the town of ceramic artists, Mata Ortiz, whose work taught me about symmetry and balance. Their use of positive and negative space and geometry are unique and taught me about composition. It’s a small town in Central Mexico and they do the most glorious work.

I moved to California in 2007. Once I moved here, I started a body of work based on carving porcelain. I found it very peaceful and meditative.

Many carved porcelains are very shallow and the glaze creates the look of depth. Instead my carvings are so deep that I almost make a sculpture.”

Making

“Carved vessels are wheel thrown and hand carved porcelain with clear and translucent glazes. I keep to a simple color palette of celadon green, peacock blue, and white to let the design speak for itself and to avoid the toxic metals in many clay colorants.

The vessels are thrown thickly so they can be carved deeply. The carving is done with dental tools when the pieces are bone dry.

I first scratch a grid on the pot with a needle. From there I go freehand. It is important to me that the carving enhance the form; that they work well together.

The tiniest pot takes six hours to carve, and larger vessels 12 to 13 inches in height take from five to six days. If it’s a really large piece, I sometimes make two. The biggest problem is poking a hole in it when carving. It’s very frustrating to spend six days carving a pot, and then poke a hole.

It’s amazing how much better the work is and I can see how much better the work can be each time I carve a bowl or vessel. I have always felt that a professional body of work takes 15 to 20 years to ripen.”

—Lynne Meade