44. Cathie Cantara, large pit-fired vase

44. Cathie Cantara, large pit-fired vase 

Cathie Cantara is a full-time studio potter, specializing in high-fired functional stoneware, as well as raku and smoke-fired art pottery. Her studio, Homeport Pottery Studio, is located on a smallholding in a rural area of Kennebunkport, Maine. For more on her work, visit her website: www.homeportpotterystudio.com.

White clay, no glaze, colors from pit-firing. Weight: 900 g (2 lb). Rim diameter: 10 cm (4 in); maximum diameter: 14.3 cm (5-5/8 in); base diameter: 7.7 cm (3 in).  Height: 21.5 cm (8-1/2 in).

Hand-thrown. This sits directly on the base. “catcantara” was incised, and a small seashell was pressed into the base. The walls rise in a long, gentle arc from the base, reaching the maximum diameter about 10 cm (4 in) above the base. The walls then curve inward to the neck, which begins some 16.5 cm (6-1/2 in) from the base. The walls then rise in nearly a straight line to the rim. The shape is very uniform, and the finish on the exterior very smooth.  As a comparison of the height and weight of the pot will make clear, this is a very thin-walled piece.

Cantara first burnished and then bisque-fired this, before pit-firing it in a saggar. The colors are a mottled orange-russet, with patches of white from the clay. The interior was lightly colored by the smoke and fumes.

The colors on this are extraordinary for a pit-fired pot. Use of the saggar allowed Cantara to control the colors. I don’t know what specific material she used for this pot, but she told me that she used garden refuse, lawn cuttings, leaves, and other plant matter. Again, a carefully constructed form combines with a random design with serendipitous results.

Purchased at the artist’s studio, Homeport Pottery Studio, Kennebunkport, Maine, September 2019.