Contemporary American Studio Art Tiedown Jar No Flaws

  

This piece of studio art pottery is in perfect condition and has zero flaws. This jar is marked on the bottom. Measurement: From top of the lid to bottom is about 11 inches. The base of the pot is about 4 1/2 inches. The middle of the jar is about 9 inches wide.

About her tiedown jars: Why tie lids down on jars? It began with a request from a coffee fanatic for a jar to seal in the freshness of his coffee beans. Then I got interested in varieties of ways jar lids could be tied down, kinds of cord, beads and stones, different knots. The addition of lines, textures, color and a bit of tension to the composition is part of the fun.

But beyond that there are thoughts. Beads and strings invite the viewer to touch the piece and think about it.

Some jars can be opened easily, some not. Some jars that seem constricted might refer to the constraints we experienced during the pandemic. For myself, there are personal thoughts. My mother was a spinner, weaver and knitter, and though she is gone the link to her in me is very strong. So here are ties that bind.

It's a chapter to be consciously enjoyed, a time to tie up loose ends, to think about "wrapping things up". Kate Shakeshaft Murray October 2022 About the artist : Kate Shakeshaft began making pottery purely for fun as an English major at Grinnell College in Iowa. Kate has a BFA in ceramics, sculpture and drawing from the University of Iowa, and an MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida.

Between degrees she worked for five separate production potteries in Vermont, and after graduate school taught full-time at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. Don passed away in 2006; in 2008 Kate Murray began teaching ceramics at Santa Fe College in Gainesville.

She has an extensive national exhibition record including four appearances in the Strictly Functional Pottery National, and has won recognition as an Emerging Artist at NCECA (National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts). Pots can fulfill our need for practical containers, for tactile contact with other human hands, for formal beauty, and for carriers of personal meaning. My pots rarely defy function: mugs hold coffee, jars can contain beans or human cremains. At the same time pots are small sculptures whose beauties pertain to line, form, proportion, rhythm, color and texture. I strive to make elegant forms with sumptuous surfaces.

And my life has shaped the work: reflections on experience and circumstances manifest themselves in the best pots.