Eight Red Bowls

Margaret Boozer, Eight Red Bowls, 2000, Maryland terra cotta and pine, 23 ¹⁄₄ x 27 ¹⁄₄ x 5 ³⁄₈ in. (59 x 69.1 x 13.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Richard T. Evans Fund, 2001.9

Artwork Details

Title: Eight Red Bowls
Artist: Margaret Boozer
Date: 2000
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
Luce Foundation Center
/
4th Floor
/
53B
Dimensions: 23 ¹⁄₄ x 27 ¹⁄₄ x 5 ³⁄₈ in. (59 x 69.1 x 13.6 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Richard T. Evans Fund
Mediums Description: Maryland terra cotta and pine
Classifications: Decorative Arts
Subjects: Object — other — dish
Object Number: 2001.9
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2001.9

Artwork Description

Margaret Boozer made Eight Red Bowls after seeing an exhibition of Chinese archaeological digs. One particular photograph of a dig site showed what she described as "a rectangular pit with a pile of pots unearthed in one corner, the discarded remnants of a funeral feast." The memory of that photograph inspired her to make this piece, in which she poured liquid clay, also called slip, into a wooden frame. She then shaped several bowls on the potter's wheel and dropped them onto the wet red slip. As the clay hardened, cracks formed around the slumped bowls so that they appear to emerge from the dried earth.