Series of Ceramics by Mary Kay Botkins

I thought I’d come through with a little ceramic work this afternoon to compliment what we’ve already curated so far this week. So once again I scoured around the various creative networks to see what I could come up with and I landed upon the page of Mary Kay Botkins, who I have to admit I’m not all that familiar with. Based in East Dundee, Iiinois Mary is a potter who creates some quite fascinating objects that are designed for function, yet take a more sculptural approach than your typical pottery project. Each item Mary puts together is created independently from the wheel, which I’ve got a huge amount of respect for as I’m completely hopeless at creating this way myself.

I loved the way in which she has been able to create realistic looking folds and flaps that are rather reminiscent of leather or paper vessels. From what I can see these are pretty flawless throughout the series with the simple single tone glazes accentuating their detail. This is something that was present in the work of Bernard Leech who we took some time out this morning to watch on the wheel, he was a big fan of toning things down on the decorative front in the majority of his projects and focusing on the form and function of a piece instead.

If you’ve got the time and the interest I’d really recommend checking back through old videos of Bernard as it’s quite fascinating the philosophies he had and how many of these are still relevant today. Back on topic here, these porcelain wares are currently on sale at the ceramic arts perception website, with each given their own amusing character descriptions over on Mary’s personal website. I’d really recommend taking the short click across as these are only a handful of the series that Mary has created. As always I’ll leave the link for this just below – Enjoy!

www.botkinsclay.com

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1 Comment

  • Matt

    Do you know the process by which these pieces were created? Were molds made from folded beeswax then heated and injected with clay?

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