What makes pottery beautiful for me? (Winston Lim)

The question of what makes pottery beautiful is a personal one but our ideas of what makes anything beautiful are shaped as much by our cultures as they are by personal preferences. My own ideas on the matter probably constitute a rather unorthodox point of view as I have been exposed to many influences throughout the course of my life. 

 

However, my personal ideal is clean, elegant lines and never more than three colours all either matching or two contrasting and a third neutral one. My current favourite technique involves a deeply coloured glaze over white slip flowers for contrast and texture though a single strong colour with a high gloss is usually good enough for me if I have made the pot a pleasing shape. And unless I'm making dishes or bowls, then I must also try to make a cover for every pot or my pot looks naked to me. I might put an ornate sprig on the cover but not much more than that if I can help it.

 

For example, I could make my pottery very colourful with lots of different glazes, but I wouldn't. At least not any more. When I started making pottery, I couldn't resist the temptation to splash all sorts of colours on my pots and even made covers in different colours. The results weren't always as successful as I'd hoped, as you can see from this old pot of mine. And though you can't see it, it's got a small, straight and rather narrow foot ring less than two inches in diameter - which looks nice and shows that my pot is perfectly balanced - but isn't quite the aesthetic I'm looking for. I prefer things that look like they won't tip over if you fill them to the brim.

At our class, our Japanese teachers and students have a rather different cultural sense of beauty in pottery - something for which I'm very grateful as they've taught me new ways to look at such things. My preference for graceful curves and simple colours comes from them. I'm not sure where my liking for pregnant shapes comes from, however. But if you'd like to know more about Japanese ideas of beautiful pottery, click here Japanese Pottery Aesthetics