99. Kari Wojtanik, multicolored pit-fired pot

99. Kari Wojtanik, multicolored pit-fired pot

 

 

For Wojtanik, see item 91; for more on her techniques of pit-firing, see item 100.

White clay, colors from pit-firing. Weight: 220 g (8 oz). Rim diameter: 1.2 cm (3/8 in); maximum diameter: 6.3 cm (2-1/2 in); base diameter: 4 cm (1-9/16 in). Height: 12.5 cm (5 in).

This sits directly on the flat base. The walls rise in a gentle convex arc up to the shoulders, which are 8.7 cm (3-3/8 in) above the base. The shoulders are only slightly narrower than the maximum diameter, which is 7.5 cm (3 in) above the base. From the shoulders the walls slant in at an angle in more or less a straight line to the rim.  The rim is slanted and chipped.  The surface is smooth, with a few rough spots.

The colors—reds, gray, black—derive from the pit-firing. The last photo shows the pot as prepared for firing resting on the aluminum foil saggar used to enclose the pot during firing; the metal band visible in the photo survives as black lines on the finished pot. The mouth is so narrow that’s it impossible to see the interior.

Purchased at the annual spring sale at Feet of Clay Pottery, Brookline, Massachusetts, May 2021.