Bruce Gholson

Seagrove, North Carolina, USA

Title: Oval Vase

Year of Creation: 2013

Glaze: Translucent clear glaze and iron rich molybdenum

Clay Body: Red stoneware with slip trailed fossil fish

Dimensions: Height 7.5 inches, Width 8 inches

Artist's Statement: The piece that I have selected to show for Vasefinder 2014 exhibition is thrown and altered into an oval shape from a red stoneware clay. An iron saturated molybdenum crystalline glaze is applied at the top, flowing downward from the rim. The fossil image is hand-drawn by slip trailing and covered with a thin translucent glaze surface that reveals the texture of the red clay behind it. I have been experimenting and refining results for this family of glazes since the early 1990's.

I work and maintain a full-time studio pottery with my wife Samantha Henneke in Seagrove, North Carolina. We have a full time pottery shop, Bulldog Pottery, open to the public daily. We live in a pottery community full of history and activity. There are approximately 70 pottery studios nestled in the countryside that are also open to the public.

I am fascinated with fossils, fish, reptiles and insects since childhood. These interests blend into an esoteric mix that is hopefully evident in the overall feeling and imagery found in my work.