In Praise of Pottery

It’s obviously from the shop that Ellen and I love a variety of utilitarian art. From the modernity of glass to the traditional weave of a blanket, every item we choose for Stewart House tells not only an aesthetically-based story, but it conveys, in some way, a cultural tradition, Though it’s true that artists can reside in any corner of the planet, certain areas of the globe have made art forms part of their national identity. India, for instance, does the vast majority of the world’s block printing. Some of the best blanket weaving happens in the U.K. - not surprising if you’ve spent a winter in the English countryside. But one of our very favorite forms of art - and one that has no enduring homeland - is handmade ceramics. It’s estimated that people have been making pottery for 30,000 years and, as humans spread geographically, so did the artform. In its simplest form, pottery-making is a bit like the game of soccer: perennially popular because of its accessibility. All you really need is moldable clay and a heat source to dry it out. That being said, the distance between the most rudimentary clay forms and our most elevated, is the distance between heaven and earth.

In fact, the fact that it’s possible to mass-produce ceramics is what makes hand-thrown, carved, and glazed pieces so truly entrancing. This fall, we’ll be featuring lines from Puglia, Italy, as well as Nova Scotia - in addition to new pieces from our favorite artists in Napa Valley, California and Capetown, South Africa. Unpacking deliveries is such a treat for us, but I’m not sure anything quite compares to seeing a handmade piece of pottery for the first time. We are often caught turning a piece in our hands, and simply marveling at the time and attention artists have taken to render one small bowl or vase far more than the sum of its parts. How is it that something so rudimentary as clay and color could manifest something so deeply imbued with spirit? In Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man, James Joyce wrote, ““To speak of these things and to try to understand their nature and, having understood it, to try slowly and humbly and constantly to express, to press out again, from the gross earth or what it brings forth, from sound and shape and colour which are the prison gates of our soul, an image of the beauty we have come to understand—that is art.” I truly believe this is the language of ceramics: to take what is primal and mold it into something that hints at our most sincere and heightened capabilities. The fact that a piece of art can speak to us on a visionary level and still serve a practical purpose (holding fresh blooms, a scoop of your favorite ice cream, or your indispensable morning coffee) is exactly what makes it close to miraculous. But isn’t that essentially why we fall in love with people and extraordinary things? Because they help us with the mechanics of our every day life, while simultaneously reminding us that we are part of something profound and beautiful. So we celebrate ceramics now and always - for making the day both elemental and transcendent with a single, small vessel.