This excellent and highly focused book is intended to help a potter see the form, shapes, contours, etc., in pottery making. Author Clary Illian apprenticed to Leach Pottery (aka studio of influential British potter Bernard Leach), and she shares what she drew from that training along with her own extensive experience to teach how to merge the mechanics of wheel-thrown pottery with making decisions about form. It’s not just a technical approach but one to help the maker see what shapes and contours are being created as the object is being created. Then, she discusses how those decisions about rims, feet, proportions, etc., act upon the pot and its intended use. What does a cylinder with a narrow base and wide open rim suggest about the volume inside of the pot and its potential uses?
She also breaks down how decisions about the anatomy of pots can ultimately be used to establish a style; sometimes, the maker is conscious of those decisions, and sometimes not. However, these factors can be better recognized with careful visual examination. Sticking to black-and-white photography and line drawings helps the reader see Illian's analysis without the distraction of color or visual texture. The book is organized mainly by object type (cylinders, bowls, pots with lids) and offers exercises related to those shapes. But even without doing the exercises, a reader of this book can significantly benefit by building their visual vocabulary of form in pottery — I know I did!
“A Potter’s Notebook,” by Clary Illian, University Of Iowa Press (July 14, 2003). Purchased this book from Cornell Studio Supply, at the 2024 NCECA conference in Richmond, VA
