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Artworks
Steve Sheridan
Over my years of potting, I have developed a particular fondness for the type of glaze known as Celadon, first made in China 900 years ago. It was the particular qualities of those old glazes that captured me…the soft, luminous sheen, a semi opaque depth created by a myriad of tiny bubbles, the cool hues of blues and greens, and above all, a quietness
In my own stoneware and porcelain, I am attempting to reproduce some of the character and quality found in the best of the older Chinese Celadon, making modern tableware that is strong an enduring with glazes that have depth and luminosity. I live and work in the Blue Mountains, which, being all sandstone, has limited materials useful for potters: I prospect for my materials in the Tablelands of NSW, west of the mountains. I use some of the old clays from there to make a stoneware body for my green celadon, and my porcelain is a
commercial body made in Gosford. My particular focus is on glazes, and glaze quality, and this is where I seek out raw materials that can make a contribution to that quality. My ongoing academic and practical fascination with the glaze family celadon stems from that quiet beauty which they bring to the table: however, I am rewarded by the intimate connection to the landscape made through finding, processing and transforming local clays, rocks and ashes into pots; vessels that hopefully may bring pleasure to our lives.
