The dramatic swirly pot greeting visitors to the exhibition is an untitled work by Associate Professor and Chair of Studio Art at Sweet Briar College Joe Monk. It was created in 1988 for the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's Art Mobile, a tractor-trailer that traveled around the state visiting schools and businesses for over three years exhibiting Virginia crafts.

               This example of pottery differs from the Greek Lekythos and Pre-Columbian Pot included in the exhibition in that rather than combining aesthetic form with practical function, it is purely decorative. While the shape is striking, it is of secondary importance, the treatment of the surface taking precedence in Monk's work.

               Pastel colored paint was applied with a wide brush as well as by the potter's fingers. Distinct outlines, done with pencil and Conté crayons, make the smaller images stand out. Monk used a small tool and a comb to cut through the paint to the white clay underneath, creating windows and dog figures and adding even more texture to the surface. The pot gets its matte surface from coats of spray matte fixative rather than glaze. Glossy black glaze covering the inside of the pot seemingly spills over the rim.

                Mixed in amidst swirling cloud patterns and abstract shapes are numerous small images. Personal icons are scattered around the pot -- a small crutch, detectable near the pot's base, refers to the polio suffered by a family member. Dogs, windows, and a butterfly appear alongside underwater references. A row of raised dots suggest the egg cases found on a farm. The checkerboard motif that appears in this piece of pottery is like a fabric remnant, popping up in other pots by Monk and giving all his pieces a common thread.

               Experimentation during the creative process is fundamental to Monk, and he likens pottery to performance art in which the end result is unknown at the outset, factors such as firing affecting the outcome. The fired pottery that emerges from a kiln is never the same piece that was placed into the kiln. His pottery can also be called a painting in the round, or a form of sculpture.

Decorated Pottery