Eight Red Bowls

Margaret Boozer, Eight Red Bowls, 2000, Maryland terra cotta and pine, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Richard T. Evans Fund, 2001.9
Copied 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
Date
2000
Location
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
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.

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