This Post-Modern Pod, entitled 'Elemental #201' measures 12" high by 15" long by 15" wide, a very large vessel with a large footprint. It is a hand-built Pod, which has been pit-fired for more than 24 hours to achieve the final carbon glaze. A short article from Ceramics Monthly about this artist is included below. This pod has brown undertones with a smoky black outer glaze in a matt finish. It is pinched, shaped and made smooth by a burnishing process with river stones. It presents like a large gourd. There is a tiny bead of clay on the interior, which can be heard rolling around the interior while being manipulated, a pleasing and likely deliberate attempt by the artist to evoke a response, and it does. This Pod is signed by the artist and numbered '201', presumably the 201st Pod by this artist. This vessel is in studio original condition, no apologies. It makes an awesome presentation, catching the eye of the curious, dominating its space and it dares the viewer to touch it, at least once...this Pod speaks the language of clay! Actual shipping will be based upon your zip code.
Jeanne Kelley Hutchinson by Donna Macri Stevens
Published in Ceramics Monthly; October 1999
Pinched and coil-built vessels by Indiana artist Jeanne Kelley Hutchinson were exhibited recently at the Gallery in Bloomington, Indiana. Inspiration often comes in quiet moments, Hutchinson says, many times while walking along the paths that surround her home, which, befittingly is located in a peaceful state forest. “Nature can be loud and noisy,” she says, “so I try to be watchful. I try to take the shapes I see repeatedly in nature and refine them down to one single cell or a blade of grass.” Once she has created the form, she develops a mold for the vessel and pours slip into it. When the finished piece is leather hard, she uses a smooth river stone to burnish the surface. The vessels are then fired in an open pit for 24 hours, a process that leaves the surface dusted with carbon. Close examination of one of these pieces may reveal the shadow of a fern, or the trail of hot smoke as it brushed against the surface. It is the element of chance, says Hutchinson, the exciting prospect of the different variations that can occur as a result of the wind direction or the temperature, that makes the long and tedious firing process worthwhile.