This vase was created to echo the form of a gourd, a shape that represents good luck, good health, and prosperity.
For this reason, gourd shapes are often endearingly used in Japanese tea ceremony and to make items like vases, sake servers, hot pepper containers etc.
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Artist's Statement
A beautiful crystalline-glazed vase captivated me while I was visiting Australia in 1999. That work of art sparked my dream to create my own mystical crystal beauty in porcelain.
My pottery career had started in 1983 when I joined Hill Potters Guild in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Through many advanced pottery workshops, I learned to throw functional ware such as teapots, vases and dishes. I also began to explore my technically challenging crystal glaze signature. These glazes are extremely fluid and tend to flow off the vessels during firing, so the pots are set on specially made pedestals to catch the liquid glaze. After cooling, the pots and the glaze-catchers must be separated with a blow-torch and the jagged glass bottoms ground smooth. Although a time consuming process, it reveals the magnificent crystal forms which delight me.
The colours I choose have a meditative quality connecting to elements within myself and to nature: the quiet intensity of a deep forest, the ethereal quality of a glacier’s blue-green or the serenity and mystery of the deep blue sea.
I seek to imbue my crystalline pieces with a peacefulness and grace, like snowflakes gently falling and I find them perfect companions in my Japanese tea ceremonies.
