141. Monte Young, large wood-fired stoneware vase, with altered shape

141. Monte Young, large wood-fired stoneware vase, with altered shape

 

 

Young is a potter in Jasper, Indiana. For more on him and other examples of his work, see monteyoungpottery.com or his Instagram account @monte.young1961.

Gray clay, covered with a Shino slip; other colors from wood-firing. Weight: 1938 g (4.3 lb). Rim dimensions: 10.2 x 9.7 cm (4 x 3-7/8 in); maximum dimensions: 15.7 x 13.8 cm (6-1/4 x 5-1/2 in); base diameter: 9.7 (3-7/8 in). Height: 24.7 cm (9-3/4 in).

This sits on the outside edges of the base, which is very slightly concave. The base has been scored in an expanding series of arcs. The remains of the three posts used to separate the pot from other surfaces during the firing are visible on the base. After throwing, the shape of the pot was altered into an oval. The artist’s mark, a raised circle with a design inside, was pressed into one side of the pot just above the base. Above the base, the walls rise in a continuous convex arc to the bottom of the neck, which is about 0.6 cm (1/4 in) below the rim. The wood-firing left a somewhat bumpy surface, especially where the ash deposits are thickest. The white lines visible on the front of the pot are grooves, filled in with the Shino slip. The firing gave the pot a smooth, slick finish.

A Shino slip was applied to the interior and parts of the exterior of the pot, with the exception of the base. The wood-firing created colors ranging from dark reddish brown to black through to a bluish gray in the areas where the ash deposit and carbon capture was greatest. According to the explanation provided by Young, this was fired for 36 hours in a small wood-firing cross-draft kiln. The interior is largely the creamy red of the Shino glaze.

Purchased from the artist, July 2021.