Martina Lantin

Martina Lantin describes working with an earthenware clay body as using chocolate porcelain. And it's no wonder, these pieces look like petit four confections you could just pop into your mouth.

(images via artist's website and Red Lodge Clay Center with artist's permission)

Kathryn Finnerty

What I love most about Finnerty's work is the way she plays with positive and negative space. The shapes within these pots, created by the fine lattice-work, the curling handles, and the jutting spouts, are enough to examine for hours before you even begin to discover the texture, color, and imagery. Finnerty's work makes you consider how much room for design, style, and creativity there is in just one pot.

(images via accessCeramics with artist's permission)

Karen McPhail

I came across Irish potter, Karen McPhail a couple days ago on Bloesem. What a sweet surprise! I love the graphic nature of the stencils and decals as well as the lovely quality of the linear decorative elements. Plus, creative handles and knobs are always a plus in my book. Also, I really appreciate, now more than ever, the simplicity of the cylinder and how wonderful it is when boldly decorated.

(images via artist's website)

Ally Howell

It's been a while since I last posted I know... But I have a pretty good excuse-

I'm graduating!

Yeah... there's a tinge of exhaustion in that exaltation. I've got exactly six school days left before I am completely finished with my B.A. in studio art. I kinda can't believe it, I don't know what I'll do next. Well, I kinda do, but that's an entirely different post.

Onto the lovely pots above. I've been harboring this post for a while, and well, today is as lovely a day as any to share. I haven't found much information on what Miss Howell is currently working on (or even where she is working from) but these pieces are nonetheless too lovely to pass up. I love the direction she is taking her work-- how she translates the influence or Fabergé and Rococo ornamentation into a cruder approach to handbuilding. These are so up my alley. (No pun intended, seriously.)

(images via artist's website and Flickr)

Ursula Hargens

Oh I just adore Hargens' commitment to color and florals. Her take on traditional majolica is so lovely and the color palate that Hargens' uses modernizes the technique just the right amount. I ought to take note on her skill at arranging patterns. She manages to include so much without letting the images get tangled. I quite admire that.

(images via Santa Fe Clay and artist's website)

Curtis Stewardson

Um? Totally. These pieces from Curtis Stewardson remind me that sometimes bold simplicity is all one needs for a beautiful work of art. Now it might be all you need, but then it's so much harder to perfect and make successful. I'm leaning this right now in my own studies.

Has anyone else had a less is more moment as of late?

(images via Archie Bray and unknown)

Lydia Buzio

Talk about illustration. These are paintings on pots.  I love the color and character of these pieces, they are so whimsical.

(images via Celia De Torres Gallery)

Shoko Teruyama

I am so jealous. This artist's skill for marrying shape, form, color, texture, and pattern is incredible.  I wonder how long the process takes to create a piece like the lotus platter (second above).

(images via artist's website)

Maria Dondero

More earthenware talent that feels like I might have unearthed it from the floor of a rustic, country playhouse. The whimsical and fluid illustrations that bedeck these pieces are so tasty.  Though at times the images are indiscernible, that only makes them the more imaginatively engaging. And the rough, teetering shapes are so unassuming which makes the vessels very easy to relate to... Just charming, don't you think?

(images via The Clay Studio and artist's website)

Matt Repsher

More earthenware love... what can I say? These pieces are phenomenal. Repsher says a lot of his inspiration comes from architecture which I think is very apparent in his work but in a subtle way.  His shapes are so strong but the influence is visible only when you think about it. If you aren't thinking about the architectural sense of his work, they just read as remarkable forms. I love that!

And I'm sorry the post is so late today. I slept in for once and then spent a lovely day with my fantastic grandmother. I forget the rest of the world exists when I hang out with her.  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend where I am, I hope you enjoy yours, too, wherever these pots find you. ;)

(images via Akar and Santa Fe Clay)