Daniel Johnston (NC, b. 1971), Large Ovoid Lidded Stoneware Urn

Seagrove, North Carolina, 2015, wood fired stoneware with salt and ash glazes, stamped with artist monogram "D," dated "2015," and numbered "799" to the upper rim, of rotund ovoid form, the body featuring four concentric tooled circumferential rings beneath an allover runny proprietary ash honey brown glaze, surmounted by a conforming domed finial cover.

39 x 28 x 28 in.

Private Collection, Raleigh, North Carolina

Daniel Johnston apprenticed in the Leach-Cardew-Hewitt school of pottery making. After his 4 year apprenticeship with Mark Hewitt, he spent time in the village of Phon Bok, Thailand, where he worked with Thai potters producing large utilitarian jars. Daniel's practice is informed by Southeast Asian methods of coil building, combined with traditional North Carolina clay and glaze practices. Johnston has established his pottery studio and kiln in Seagrove, North Carolina, where he relies on the special particle sizes and properties of the native Mitchfield clay. He strives to allow every part of the process to have its own space and independence: “My philosophy,” Daniel says, “is that you have to work with the kiln...the pot, the slips, and the glazes. And the fire. You have to understand all these things. I’m not practicing chemistry, you know. I’m practicing art.“

Johnston is featured in museum collections at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Mint Museum, Gregg Museum of Art & Design, and North Carolina Pottery Center. He has lectured and taught workshops at the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival, Penland School of Craft, and St. Ives Ceramics.

Good estate condition; some minor surface soiling from outdoor display.