Ceramic Form no. 16

Ceramic Form no. 16
Leza McVey

Artist Biography
Acquisition Number: 2023.7
Medium: Ceramic
Size: 12 1/2 x 9 x 8 in.
Date: c. 1950s
Credit: Gift of Warren McCullough in memory of Marjorie McCullough

This vessel with an unconventionally large mouth is evidence of Leza McVey’s freeform ceramics. She preferred to hand-build her forms rather than throw them on the wheel, which allowed for more creative freedom. It gave her ceramics an organic look, and she said, "Hand methods allow a form to be pushed out from the inside - to better express the energies and vitality of growing things." This piece eschews the symmetry expected in a utilitarian ceramic vessel especially in its glaze pattern, whose lines vary in thickness and don’t appear quite straight. Typical for the time, Leza studied reduction glazes copied from American ceramists, specifically ash glazes by Bernard Leach. The many fireplaces at Cranbrook where Leza taught were ideal gathering spots for wood ash. The earthy, textured tones of ash glaze, seen in the lines of this piece, swept the United States as much as it did Cranbrook. Leza intentionally used ambiguous titles for her works, preferring the term "Ceramic Form" over "Vase" to get across the message that her pieces were to be seen as non-objective sculpture works rather than functional, traditional pieces. The numbers that followed were from her record keeping and cataloging for exhibitions.