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Bowl
1984
Thomas Hoadley
Born: North Adams, Massachusetts 1949
porcelain
5 1/4 x 5 1/4 x 5 in. (13.3 x 13.3 x 12.7 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of R. Ford Singletary from the collection of Randy M. Leonard
1991.5.3
Smithsonian American Art Museum
4th Floor, Luce Foundation Center
"Straight parallel lines are created by stacking up slices of various colored clays but in the manipulation of the resulting soft block of clay, the lines become undulating or are perhaps made to taper down to hair’s breadth . . . I think of my patterns as being a collaboration between my imposed structure and the clay's wise alteration of that structure." Artist statement
Thomas Hoadley used the Japanese technique of nerikomi to create the delicate lines of color in this vessel. He stacked thousands of thin layers of colored clay to create a "loaf," then cut the loaf into thin slices and assembled the pieces to create the bowl’s final form. Hoadley started using this labor-intensive technique in the early 1980s, and feels that it creates an "organic union of pattern and structure." His pieces from this period often comprise three colors, and exhibit spirals, stripes, or checkerboard compositions.
Keywords
decorative arts - ceramic
Crafts - Clay
ceramic - porcelain
About Thomas Hoadley
Born: North Adams, Massachusetts 1949
More works in the collection by
Thomas Hoadley
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