The Belly of the ROM

I had the privilege of taking the Sheridan students to the vault of the Royal Ontario Museum. The Curator of the European section had a selection of work to show us from the 1500's to the more contemporary 21st century work of Leach, Rie, Coper, Staite-Murray etc. Looking at this 500 year old work makes one wonder if we really have improved ceramics. One also has to keep in mind that all this work was fired with wood and later coal. No switches, no cones, no ramps, no high limit controllers. All done by eye!
I was very excited by this little wood fired lead glazed piggy bank. The students are all keen on having an 04 wood firing.
Here is a picture of me holding a Hans Coper vase. I always thought they were about 3 feet tall. The secret is to make small pots that look huge. I find my huge pots often look small when photographed.