Among the indigenous artists of the Americas, ceramists have developed signature pottery forms that are based on traditional cooking and storage vessels. These artists often also developed elaborate, decorative forms of pottery to serve for important civic or ritual occasions, as well as to cater to and satisfy high-status patrons. Some forms, motifs, and designs on these … [Read more...] about Native Ceramic Vessels from Around the Americas: Researched by Whitney Mosley and Sarah Teel
Berber vessels are distinctive in their use of locally sourced clays that the artisans dig, process, mature, and work by hand. Although this Berber vessel takes the same form as large, traditional Moroccan tagines used for cooking, this tagine is much too small to be used for cooking or serving meals. Instead, this covered vessel was made to mimic the shape of a tagine, but it … [Read more...] about Miniature Tagine for Holding Spices: Researched by Olivia Smith
This vessel is an excellent example of the skilled art pottery made by the artisans of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. These vessels strongly illustrate the Mestizo (mixed European and indigenous) heritage of the region; the vessels are made using traditional terra cotta clays, but formed using the imported Spanish method of throwing the vessel on a potter’s wheel. The vessels … [Read more...] about Sgraffito Vessel with Four Swimming Turtles: Researched and Reproduced by Katelynn McGuire
This Algerian pouring vessel was created and decorated in the tradition of the Kabyle-Berber culture, and it was intended for use in the traditional storage and serving of drinking liquids. Like other Algerian pottery, the vessel was hand-thrown in red terracotta clay and then decorated with colored mineral slips using brushes of goat hair set into wet clay … [Read more...] about Algerian Pouring Vessel: Researched, Conserved, and Reconstructed by Sabrina Osment
This hand-thrown lid for a stoneware crockery vessel was excavated from Bonniebrook, the estate of American illustrator, cartoonist, artist, writer, and suffragette Rose O’Neill, who is best-known for her invention of the Kewpie doll character. Several years after O’Neill’s death in 1944, her house at Bonniebrook burned to the ground, and curious local people … [Read more...] about Hand-Thrown Lid: Researched, Conserved, and Reconstructed by Sabrina Osment