Calming Pottery

No, I doubt pottery is ever anxious. But it may calm people. Someone walking by said my freshly thrown heart-shaped bowls are calming. I love that; hadn't thought I want to make calming pots, but yes, I do. Among the adjectives I am choosing : graceful, floating ...  calming fits wonderfully. It's partly a look, partly a feel.

Other people whose work I love make wonderfully calming pots. Look at Noel Bailey's work, from the December Ceramics Monthly.

Calming is not boring. Bailey's pots are described:

"Each modulating, sloping edge confidently works to suggest a natural shape or form from his immediate environment. The apparent simplicity of his altered forms yields an abundance of complexity to journey through repeatedly in an unhurried state of mind. Just be with it. Slowing down is good. Notice more. In looking carefully at his pieces, viewers are bound to become more alert and mindful. "

There is enough going on to reward attention, quietly, with subtlety. Not simple, but calming.

This article writes about responses to the look of these pots. I have only seen pictures, but I expect they also feel attractive, complex, and calm to the hand.  Oh, yes.

And if you are interested in technical aspects of what he does, look at this way of loading platters in a kiln, to direct the flow of melted glaze.