Global Vessel

Harvey Sadow, whose vessel The Pearl is in the White House collection, shares his thoughts on the artistic process.

"As a potter, the nature of my work is the forming and firing of clay vessels. As an artist, the nature of my work is to actualize what I visualize, and my vision is often of the vessel as global metaphor, viewed from a celestial perspective. There is a balance in nature, and I want to remind people of that inner calm which we have all experienced, but find so difficult to maintain. So, in making my objects, I try to stay focused on balance, because it is the key to thanksgiving.

"The more I slow down the working process, the more time I spend in developing each form and each surface; the more opportunity there is for thoughts to become infused into the objects. I believe that it is possible for an artist to empower works of art, and so, rather than seeking to make vast amounts of work which is only about money, I seek to make a few articulate objects which can actually affect people in positive ways and reaffirm what I believe to be truth."

Read more in our interview with the artist in our online exhibition The White House Collection of American Crafts.

Source: White House Collection of American Crafts online exhibition at http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/whc/index.html.

Pictured: Harvey Sadow, born 1946, The Pearl, "Ground Zero" series, 1986, Ceramic; wheel-thrown, glazed, raku-fired, and sandblasted, 11 x 14 in., Lent by the White House, Gift of the artist, Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor.