Richard Hirsch Ceramic Altar Bowl with Blown Glass Ladle #5, 2007

Contemporary American ceramic artist Richard Hirsch's Altar bowl with Ladle #3 was made in 2007. It's wheel thrown and hand built clay with low fire white glaze and raku patinas. In the book "With Fire: Richard Hirsch, A Life Between Chance and Design" Scott Meyer said; "As Hirsch's work progressed over the years, it would be a mistake to portray these advances as chronological. In fact, items found provocative would be added to the roster of possibility. The vessel might change in character with the deep interior space of a mortar becoming the shallow concavity of a Japanese, stone Tsubi basin or natural geode form. The corresponding implement might change from bulbous pestle to delicate ladle, alluding to the ceremonial cleansing for participants in the Tea Ceremony. In this sense, the proximity of these objects to their implied ceremonial use was similar to that which traditional Raku bowls...

Contemporary American ceramic artist Richard Hirsch's Mortar and Glass Pestle Sculpture #23 was assembled in 2006. It's wheel thrown and hand built clay with low fire slips and glazes, raku patinas and hot blown glass. The following is an excerpt from the book "With Fire: Richard Hirsch, A Life Between Chance and Design" written by Scott Meyer...

"Untitled" is a stoneware piece with the decorative layer of the rich toned glazes and markings that John was so well-known for. Each piece that John produced was unique. The lip on this piece is slightly scalloped and the shape is removed from the boring circular to mimic a gentle geometric design. He was seduced by the effects of the reduction kiln, which decreased the levels of oxygen during firing, inducing the flame to pull oxygen out of the clay and glazes changing the colors of the glazes depending on their iron and copper content. In this way he achieved the rich gradients of ochre and umber and variations in stippling and opacity. This piece is signed and stamped on the bottom. John was an American Abstract Expressionist ceramicist born in Detroit, MI. Though open to artistic experimentation, Glick was most influenced by the styles and aesthetics of Asian pottery—an inspiration that shows in his use of decorative patterns and glaze choices. He has said that he is attracted to simplicity, as well as complexity: my work continually reflects my re-examination that these two poles can coexist… or not, in a given series. Glick also took influences from master potters of Japan, notably Shoji Hamada and Kanjrio Kawai, blending their gestural embellishments of simple forms with attitudes of Abstract Expressionism. He was particularly drown to the work of Helen Frankenthaler whose soak-stain style resonated with Glick’s multi-layered glaze surfaces, which juxtaposed veils of atmospheric color with gestural marks and pattern. He spent countless hours developing and making his own tools in order to achieve previously unseen results in his work with clay and glaze. Glick’s “Plum Tree Pottery...

Introducing a stunning exemplar of Mid-Century Modernist artistry: a Hand-Blown Murano Scavo Glass Bowl, signed by renowned Italian glassmaker ...