What Makes a Potter: Functional Pottery in America Today

About this book

Award-winning art critic Koplos captures the history and zeitgeist of the functional pottery craft through interviews with 50 artists. Why are people still handmaking utilitarian pottery in the 21st century? Doesnt industrial production take care of all our storage and cooking and serving needs? Yet in all corners of the US pottery is being discovered studied developed produced sold collected used displayed preserved and passed down. Answers to these questions are vividly realized in the words of potters themselvesfunny philosophical intense and inspiring life narratives captured by Janet Koplos an award-winning art critic who has followed American studio ceramics for the last four decades. The depth and breadth of this book are unprecedented in American craft history. Fifty individuals or pairs of potters offer their experiences their thoughts and their lessons learned. When art is at home in the kitchen dining room or living room as is the case with functional pottery the impact on our lives can be profound.