Bottle Vase in Gray and White

Thomas Hoadley, Bottle Vase in Gray and White, 1981, colored porcelain, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Donna and John Donaldson in memory of Jean and John Michael on the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance and the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 1997.109.6

Thomas Hoadley used the Japanese technique called nerikomi to create the delicate lines of color in this vase. Different colored clays are layered, folded, pressed, and layered again, working the clay into rolls. The rolls are then cut into slices, which are used to “build” a vessel. Hoadley began using this labor-intensive process 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. The pattern in Bottle Vase in Gray and White evokes feathers or shells, natural forms that inspired many of Hoadley’s later works.

“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’s statement

Title

Bottle Vase in Gray and White

Artist

Thomas Hoadley

Date

1981

Location

Dimensions

7 ³⁄₄ x 6 ³⁄₄ in. (19.7 x 17.2 cm) diam.

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of Donna and John Donaldson in memory of Jean and John Michael on the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the James Renwick Alliance and the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Renwick Gallery

Mediums