Charger

Peter Voulkos, described as a rule-breaking innovator and an unorthodox teacher in the field of ceramics, eschewed consistency: "The minute you begin to feel you understand what you are doing you lose that searching quality…[Let] your emotions take over and what happens, happens."  Inspired by the spontaneity of Japanese ceramics and American Abstract Expressionist painting, this work is charged with a sense of immediacy by Voulkos's gouges, tears and punctures, as well as the unpredictable forces of the wood kiln. The unglazed stoneware surface acquired a sheen from the flash of ash and fire, and swathes of black and blue resulted from stacking wood against the plates.