117. Dorothy “Dot” Teale, 1921-2018, small pot

 117. Dorothy “Dot” Teale, 1921-2018, small pot

 

Teale was active as a potter and a ceramics teacher from around the end of WWII at various places in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States.

Dark reddish chocolate clay with added iron flakes, interior and top of exterior light blue glaze; rest of exterior unglazed. Weight: 464 g (1 lb). Rim diameter: 4.7 cm (1-3/4 in); maximum diameter 9.3 cm (3-1/4 in); foot ring diameter, 6 cm (2-5/16 in). Height: 7.3 cm (2-7/8 in).

For its size, this is a heavy pot. The base and side walls of the body of the pot are quite thick. I estimate them to be over a centimeter thick (ca. 3/8 in). This sits on the base of the foot ring, which is 0.3 cm (1/8 in high). The interior of the foot ring has been hollowed out to the same distance. “Dot Teale” was incised within the foot ring. Above the foot, the body of the pot flares out in a straight line at a shallow upward angle, reaching the maximum diameter of 9.3 cm (3-1/4 in) 1.7 cm (5/8 in) above the base. The walls then angle inward slightly in more or less a straight line to the shoulders, 6.8 cm (2-11/16 in) above the base. At the shoulders, the diameter of the pot is 7.7 cm (3 in). Above the shoulders, the walls slope inward at a slight upward angle to the rim of the pot, which has a slightly raised rounded lip. Above the shoulders, the walls of the pots are much thinner.  Vertical and horizontal straight lines were incised into the unglazed portion of the sides of the pot. Their placement seems random; they don’t repeat in a recognizable series or form a picture. There is another series of short vertical and horizontal lines at the shoulder, mostly covered by the glaze. The exterior texture of the pot is quite rough, due to the addition of the iron flakes to the clay.

The interior and the upper part of the exterior down to the shoulders were glazed in a light blue, much freckled with black spots, perhaps the result of an interaction between the glaze and the iron flakes. The glazed portion is lower on one side of the pot.

This has a blunt, direct impact. It's bold and coarse, lacking in the smoothness and finesse that carefully finished pieces have. There is no symmetry or pattern in it. Even the glaze is uneven and full of "flaws." It's heavy in more than just its weight.

Purchased in June 2021 from Gallery4Art.