Edgefield...

Do these swags look familiar? 

There is a  Michael Cardew quote that Matt would some times repeat in the pottery and I grew quite fond of it.  It said something to the effect of "There are no new forms, just old ones done either well, or poorly."  I think that these few pictures is a nice testament to that.

The old man and the big pot...

This is my father standing next to an enormous pot of the geometric period.

Up close..

This is the shoulder detail from a very old pot.  I forget what century other than it is B.C.  Amazing. 

Trophys...

These pots would be given to athletes as prizes and filled with olive oil.  As many as 40 could be given as a single prize.

Green ovoid jar..

This pot reminds me of so many different forms I love from so many different places....

Ron...

Ron, I have never met you in person but through reading your blog and looking at your work when I saw this pot it immediately made me think of some of the pots you make.  Last night after a great dinner my father and I went on a brief exploration of Delphi and wandered in a store like no other in that small town.  It was cluttered with old Greek antiques including an amazing collection of old Greek pots.  Not old like most of the pots I've been looking at but old like antiques.  The man in the show (who was also quite old) dated most of them somewhere between 50 and 100 years ago.  I was blow away by much of what I saw.  I will post a few pictures of what I found there.  Unfortunately I did not have a way to bring any of these home.  Perhaps another trip...

Pots of a different color...

Its been a few days, very spotty internet connections despite being in the major metropolis of Athens.  We left Istanbul for Athens a few days ago.  This leg of the trip was my fathers suggestion and although I was very excited to come to Greece and see the ruins I had no idea how much pottery these folks made and how beautiful it is.  Its such a departure from what we were looking at in Kutahya.  I've had an old post card of a large amphora over my wheel for the last year or so and to suddenly walk through the museums and see pot after pot was amazing.  Thier forms are full and simple and I've got more inspiration now than I ever imagined I would have come home with.  There are lots of pictures and Ill post my favorites when I get them online.  For now this will have to do. 16th century B.C.

 

 

Kütahya

Tomorrow we leave for Istanbul. Kütahya has been more than I could have hoped for although it would take me three hours to get it all out while typing on this little phone. So it will have wait. I also don't have any photos on the phone as they are all in my camera. In a few days I will fill in all the details. Until then....

Mosaics...

Mosaics of a different kind....

Big tiles...

This is one of two very large tiles outside of the circumcision
pavilion. They are each at least three feet tall. It seemed rare to
see tiles this large.

Tomorrow we are off to Kütahya to see the atölye where so much of the
modern çini is being produced. When I mention to shop keepers who sell
çini that I am going to Küyahya they all look at me like I am crazy.
They say, "Kütahya!? Why would you want to go there?". I am a bit
nervous but things seem to just work out when you let them. Its late
and we leave early. More in a few days...

Pavilion of Pain

This is the circumcision Pavilion, where the young princes of the
Topkapi Palace where, well....it has the most beautiful Iznik Tiles
that you can see in the background.

Chinese...

This is an old Chinese bottle(I forget the dynasty) that is in a very
impressive collection at the Topkapi Palace. The sultans had such an
admiration for the Chinese pots that they had their own people try and
make a similar body of work. The word çini comes out of China. The
çini of the Turks resembles the Chines ceramics only in their mastery
of materials and beautiful brush work for their designs and motifs
although linked are very much their own. There is so much to learn I
feel as though I am only scratching the surface.

Blue Mosque

New Mosque

Rüstam Pasa Mosque tiles

Istanbul

The first thing that strikes me as a westerner in this city is the call to prayer. Five times a day the Imams call out their prayers. Its a beautiful, eery sound that echos out from loud speakers perched high atop the minarets. We are staying on the old city, Sultanahmet. A short walk up the hill finds you at the entrance of the Blue Mosque, and just a few hundred yards to the east stands the Aya
Sophia, which for a thousand of years after its construction in the sixth century was the largest enclosed space. The scale is staggering. It is also impossible to forget why I came here. Every where you look there are reminders of the rich ceramic traditions that have steeped this country for a thousand years. They call it çini, the ç pronounced like a ch. Tommorow we will go to the Rüstem Pasa Camii, which is a smaller mosque but said to have one of the best collections of early Iznik tiles in the city.
Tomorrow I'll take some pictures....