24. Elise Chezem, small pit-fired vase
For Chezem, see item 23.
White clay, unglazed, colors from pit-firing. Weight: 282 g (10 oz). Rim diameter: 8 cm (3-1/8 in); base diameter: 4.3 cm (1-5/8 in); maximum diameter: 8.7 (3-3/8 om). Height 12.5 cm (5 in).
Wheel-thrown. The base is a shallow concavity. The artist signed the work within this area with an inscribed “Elise.” Above the base, the walls rise in a convex arc to a height of some 5 cm (2in). The upward arc is interrupted by a concave indentation about a finger-width wide. The pot then bulges outward briefly. Above this is an almost vertical neck, ending in a flattened rim. The rim overhangs the body of the pot slightly. The rim itself was smoothed flat.
The pot was pit-fired, resulting in a random covering of black, gray, and white colors. The exterior of the pot is densely covered; the interior less so.
Chezem’s pit-fired pieces embody what I love about these methods—a perfection of form combined with perhaps random and uncontrolled decoration. The potter, especially if using a saggar, can influence what happens during firing but never determine it with certainty. What might be just another pretty pot if coated with a monochrome glaze becomes unique and unreproducible when exposed to wood fumes and ash. The smoke creates a matchless pattern on each pot. The artist can plan the shape of the pot; what she can’t do is control the forces that decorate it. To me, they represent the impact of chance on human activities; The result, as typified by Chezem’s work, can be serendipitous.
At the time I bought this, I was told that Chezem used native California woods, such as manzanita and California oak, in her firings.
The pot combines an interesting shape with spontaneity of coloration. The expected arc of the body is briefly abandoned, and the neck is elongated; the variety and randomness of the finish work against the lines of the pot still further.
Purchased at Peninsula Potters in Pacific Grove, California, in the early 1990s.
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