Fred Johnston and Carol Gentithes (Seagrove, NC), Stoneware Owl and Fish Vase

Contemporary glazed stoneware with transfer and paint decoration, impressed studio stamps and inscribed to the underside, baluster form vase in the form of an owl, featuring and upright image of a fish and other patterned decoration.

19 x 8 x 8 in.

At Johnston and Gentithes Studios Fred and Carol work together to process their own regional wild clays and fire them in electric, gas & wood kilns. The work is hand built and wheel thrown and the surfaces include salt & ash glazes, shinos, celadons, alkaline, underglazes, slips, and ceramic decals.

Fred's interest lies in the abstraction of nature. He questions how mark making and decoration accentuates form while at the same time contemplating what forms are best suited for a particular zoomorphic motif. He relies on intuition, spontaneity and what is visceral as a mode of creating. Carol's quixotic sculptures can be seen in vivid color. Abstracting from mythology, literature and life’s observations, the subject matter ranges anywhere from pictorial witticisms to political commentaries. They collaborate through their keen sense of the pottery vernacular and the historical canon of art and culture. Their vessel collaborations are an amalgamation of surrealistic and atmospheric surfaces which come from the wood firing process and the reconfiguration & distortion of commercial ceramic decals.

Bio courtesy of Potter's Market at the Mint Museum.

Good estate condition.

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