Bob Nelson

Arvada, Colorado

Title: Dancing Spirits

Year of Creation: 2005

Glaze: Iron silicate blue ash celadon

Clay Body: Porcelain

Dimensions: Height 15.75 inches, Width 9.5 inches

Artist's Statement: A flame out of focus is spherical and soft. It exudes a natural glow not unlike that of a well made pot when put to the high fire. Nature and the white heat are expressions not to be controlled only guided. They sometimes speak loudly and with harsh devastating statements yet beauty abounds....

After all the making and glazing, the long firing answers every question even if it is not what we wanted or so longed to hear.

Decades of work to get Iron Blue and Jade green mutton fat Celadons that turn olive and deep gray when there is too much smoke and Copper Reds that all but burn away only to blush every pot nearby when there is too little smoke. Tenmokus run and drip, Shinos pit and crawl with no rhyme or reason yet the brilliance of a precious stone appears just as nature. Exquisite are they, those gems that come from the kiln. They come from a place without politics, prejudice or question. That place in the mind, heart and spirit, but never until the nature of the flames has had its say.

Metaphors abound...brush strokes that remind us of grass blowing in the wind; textural dabbings, of forests; quick scratches, clouds, mountains or seawaves; and with a few well placed strokes, appear a stag or flock of birds.

All of this is what makes a pot truly timeless.