91. Kari Wojtanik, large black-and-white pit-fired pot

91. Kari Wojtanik, large black-and-white pit-fired pot

Wojtanik is a Boston-area potter. Her pottery is called MudRocks Studio. She writes that she “likes to think of her work as a place where art and nature intersect. Pottery epitomizes the most basic and magical elements of nature: earth, water, air, and fire. Yet, it offers endless invitations for experimentation and happy accidents.” After forty years of working with ceramics, she still feels that she “is just beginning to explore its possibilities.” Much of her work is pit-fired (see item 100 for her pit-firing techniques). She recently (as of 2022) has begun wood-firing (see item 163). For more on her and other examples of her work, see www.fivecrows.com/kari-wojtanik, her Instagram account @mudrocksstudio; www.facebook.com/mudrocksstudio, and her page at www.feetofclaypottery.com.

White clay, no glaze, colors from pit-firing. Weight: 1056 g (2.4 lb). Rim diameter: 9 cm (3-5/8 in); maximum diameter: 14.5 cm (5-3/4 in); base diameter: 6 cm (2-3/8 in). Height: 20 cm (7-7/8 in).

The pot sits directly on the base. The walls rise in a high-shouldered convex arc to the neck. The pot reaches the maximum diameter at 11.3 cm (4.5 in) above the base; the shoulders are at 13.5 cm (5-1/4 in); and the bottom of the neck at 17 cm (6-3/4 in). The neck is 9.7 cm (3-7/8 in) in diameter at the bottom and 3 cm (1-1/8 in) high. The exterior walls of the pot were burnished and are quite smooth. The neck is scored with grooves running around the circumference. There are two similar grooves right above the base on the outside walls.

The colors are from the pit firing. Black predominates, with shades of gray, and a few patches of white and small spots of pink. The interior is a dusty black.

Purchased at the annual winter sale at Feet of Clay Pottery, Brookline, Massachusetts, December 2019.