WILLIAM MEHORNAY STUDIO POTTERY CELADON GLAZED BOWL c.1974
Circa 1974/75

We have recently been extremely privileged to meet acclaimed American born studio potter and artist William Mehornay. We are also greatly honored for him to have entrusted to us pieces made by him in the period 1974-85, which in his opinion are among some of his finest, and although a relatively small collection of just over 20 pieces they are certainly among the finest produced by any studio potter and a great credit to him. From this unique and rare collection we offer this shallow and finely made studio pottery porcelain bowl decorated in crackled celadon glaze. The simple style of this bowl and its fine quality was inspired by Chinese wares. All pieces are offered in exceptional and as made condition. For reference to the work of William Mehornay please see The Victoria & Albert Museum Collection: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O19553/teapot-mehornay-william/ Provenance: William Mehornay is a classical porcelain potter. His individual pieces have been purchased by various museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Through his work with Interior Designers his large scale vases, lamps and jars have graced some of the finest hotels, corporate venues and private residences around the world. Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1945, after University study in America he became permanently resident in England in 1967. Following a year at Hammersmith College of Art, London, his ceramic training was comprised of work in tin glazed earthenware with Alan Caiger-Smith, Aldermaston and domestic stoneware with John Slade, Cambridge. In 1974 he set up his own studio and started working in porcelain. He worked full time as a professional potter in that medium ever since until 2001. “Making pots is an act of discovery. It is a constant process of watching and discriminating in relation to what one sees and feels. People have different values, but for me a good pot should have purity, depth and a sense of quietude about it. Porcelain by definition is hard, white, translucent pottery. The very medium itself is all about purity, clarity and light. It naturally demands that these qualities be facilitated, allowed to shine, rather than covered up. I work in series in an effort to discover the essence of both form and glaze. It is a constant two-way process. The first is a drawing back process. It is like reaching back to find the point of origin or seed of a form. Once this has taken place then the second part of the process - the letting go - can begin, and everything which springs forth from that point will have a rightness and vitality about it. Both parts are necessary. Without the first there is no depth; no substance. Without the second, there is no dance. When these two parts are together, then, one can make one hundred of the same shape - all perfect, but all different - in the same way that one hundred apples are all perfect but different. Craft is about the skilful manipulation of material. Art is about seeing and revealing. An artist uses his craft as a vehicle for expressing what has been seen. The ultimate art is to see and reveal those things which are timeless, universal, essential - beyond the power of words to express and yet common and central to us all. Some of my pieces have a touch of this quality, others are just well made. Each is the result of an effort to look in this direction and is signed and dated.”