"Form Follows Function"

"Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple blossom, the toiling workhorse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function....." Louis Sullivan - Lippincotts' Magazine - March, 1896

This quote heads the "Prairie" section in the Jemerick Art Pottery website showroom. http://www.jemerickartpottery.com/ I learned of Steve Frederick and Cherie Jemsek in an article about the Des Moines Arts Festival going on this weekend. Pottery has been an attraction of mine for many years. I am very drawn to the Jemerick Arts & Crafts style. (Architect Louis Sullivan is credited with beginning the Prairie School of Architecture. One of the buildings he designed is the Merchants' National Bank in Grinnell, Iowa.) Viewing this website got me thinking about my own pottery collection.

Pictured above is one of Rhonda Millhollin's Leaf Bowls. When she still had her studio on main street in Corning, I loved going in just to watch her work and marvel at her creations. This "Iowa Oak Leaf Bowl" was commissioned by the State of Iowa to be given (if I remember correctly) as gifts to visiting dignitaries. (Mine was a gift from Gene & Kristina Knutson Young.)

The tall flower pot is a Guy Wolff creation I purchased at The Garden Gate nursery in Creston several years ago when it was still in operation. http://www.guywolff.com/ I love his pots so much. I thought he was a Wisconsin potter which was one of the reasons I gave Kristina one of his pots for her birthday. (The other being because I like them and I tend to give gifts that I like myself.) (Wolff shot to stardom after Martha Stewart gave Oprah Winfrey some of his pots on Winfrey's tv show. But I didn't know that when I bought mine.)

I don't think of my Isabel Bloom statues as pottery, though the concrete mixture used to make them must be related to the materials used in making pottery. The one in this trio is "Emma". http://www.ibloom.com/



While still living in West Des Moines, I took an adult ed pottery course through the Des Moines Public Schools. It was the first time I ever felt "creative". I really enjoyed the classes, the instructor and the other students. The green bowl on the left above is one of mine as is the small white bowl with the brown rings in the middle. The turquoise vase is my only piece of Van Briggle pottery. I coveted their pottery from the first time I saw a"Lorelei" vase in an antique shop. Touring the Van Briggle studios in Colorado Springs, CO several years ago still ranks as one of my top vacation memories. http://www.vanbriggle.com/

Dainty, delicate, small items attract me for some reason. The three above: A small white bowl I brought back from Ireland for Mom. It is from the Kylemore Abbey Pottery. Their distinctive fuschia flower is inside the little bowl. http://www.kylemoreabbey.com/ The "Ego" pot in the middle is one of Rhonda Millhollin's. The little butter pat plate on the right is one I picked up on one of our trips somewhere.

The bowl in back on the right is my last attempt at potting. A visiting artist at the Corning Fine Arts Center got me through the first firing. Now I have to wait until she comes back or another potter is on site to help me through the glazing phase so I can finally complete my bowl. (I've forgotten what I learned about glazes at my adult ed classes in DM.) http://www.corningfinearts.org/

I had hoped to get back into throwing pots after I retired. Just making the one reminded me how much hand strength is required. Unfortunately my arthritis makes it too painful to pursue.



More of my collection. Left and right in front are both flower frogs. The one on the right has Celtic designs. The middle front bowl is an old favorite - a piece from Linda Young Williams when she was just beginning her varied artistic life. Her 'signature' pottery always included little birds. You can just make them out perched on the rim of this bowl. Linda moved on to other art forms but her pottery was always my favourite.
Vase back left is, I believe, a piece of Roseville. It was one of those lucky finds at an auction. Instead of being inside the building with the other good pieces, it was amongst the odds and ends in a box outside the auction building. The tall green vase at back, right was a gift from Oregon via daughter, Kari. Other than that I really like it, I don't know much about it.
I believe the small blue-green bowl in back is from the Corning Fine Arts Center while the taller one next to it was from the Fickle Frog.



Back left and middle are two of my creations. Taller piece between is from the Barking Spider Pottery. http://www.barkingspiderpottery.com/ I bought it at The Atherton House Kiln Opening in Adel. Their kiln opening is usually the first weekend in May. The Atherton House recently sold. I'm hoping the new owner continues the Kiln Opening weekends.
The small plate front left was also purchased at one of the Atherton kiln openings. The little one on the right was from a visit with Gene & Kristina in Wisconsin. We toured several unique gift shoppes that day. Right rear is a Pam Dennis creation purchased at the Lagniappe in West Des Moines as a gift for my hubby Bubby. (This was several years ago. I would like to see how Ms. Dennis' work has evolved but find no website for her.)



And, finally, two more of mine - the little red pot in front and the larger, flat brown bowl in back. I tried to make the bowl look like a bird's nest by incising lines around the outside before glazing and firing. The similar shaped bowl on the right is amazing. It looks like leather. The leather thong stitching around the top adds to the look of leather. An arrowhead hangs from the lacing. I think I bought this for Bud at an art show on the State Fair grounds.
The middle back vase is an example of Raku pottery which is one of the pottery firing methods that I find most fascinating. I have always wanted to try it. Memory says I purchased this vase on a trip to Arizona - I think from one of the Native American vendors who set up at the Oak Creek Canyon pass north of Sedona.
The front two pots are probably my oldest - both in the traditional Southwest Indian style and colors. The large one was left in the basement of the house we rented northwest of Urbandale in the 70's. It reminds me of the souvenirs from Mexico although it is not stamped as such. The little pot is incised "Bicknell Art '08(?) 7-28-32". I got it at a garage sale.
There are times I wish I hadn't vowed not to "collect" again after downsizing into retirement. If I do relent, it will be pottery that pulls me back in.