Pottery In Australia Vol 39 No 4 December 2000

PROFILE
POTS TO LIVE WITH
Matthew Blakely's work is ranges made up of 'specials' where every pot has the vitality and
presence to stand on its own.
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e making of thrown functional pottery for daily
use has neen at once a philosophy and a passion
since my pottery career began. Not a 'bread and
butter' range, where most care and attention is applied
elsewhere, but ranges made up of 'specials' where every
pot has the vitality and presence to stand on ilS own. At
the Australian Craft Show in November I launched a
catalogue comprising my ranges of woodfired stoneware,
oven to tableware and porcela in that J have been
developing for the past few years. All the pots are made
to be used, lived with, ap preciated visua ll y and
physically. Of all the pOlS I have, made by myself and
others, my favourites would have to be bowls and mugs.
I use them constanrJy and there's something about the
sensuality of a well pulled and shaped handle that J can't
describe for fear of sounding perverse.
I have to admit that I find porcela in quite a hard
material to use. It requires such care I have to get into a
different frame of mind when working with it - so
different to working with a robust forgiving stoneware.
It's not as much fun but it is certainly not without
pleasure. I love its delicate creamy smoothness and the
fluid sheen of a freshly made pol. These are the qualities
that I try to encourage in my work. I throw my pot, as
close to completion as I can, turning only lids and
footrings on bowls and plates. Decoration is only simple
indenrations or undulating lines impressed in the clay
during throwing, or sweeps of porcelain slip across large
nat or shallow areas.
I use porcelain for its whiteness and the gorgeous
quality it gives to glazes. Warm gentle green widl no hint
of yellow or brown, soft misty blue, even my humble
tenmoku is gently dusted with gold speckles, more subtle
than pyroxene crystals, and with a rich amber to ilS break
on edges that just don't occu r on stoneware. I tend to
apply the glazes thickly to give them depth, but they are
not static and at least semi-clear so they don't mask the
qualities of the clay. On the contrary, the slight pooling
of the celadons highlights the simple decoration and
reveals crisp wh ite edges of clay and slip.
The catalogue includes these porcelain ranges - green
celadon, blue ceiadon with clear inside and black and
green. There are about twenty different forms in the
porcelain covering full dinner selS, tea selS, vases, large
howls and cakelcheese serving stands.With use in mind I
have developed all the glazes to be craze free. With luck
and no doubt an even bigger pile of glaze teslS I will be
able to add a satin white and satin black to the IL,t. So far
50 POTTERY IN A USTRAUA + 3914 DECEMBER 2000