For the love of Blackheads

I was one of the lucky ones in my teen years that didn’t have pimples or blackheads except for the day of my wedding I got a big zit on the end of my nose. That was a message from God. You have to learn to listen to your body.

 I bought this jug I’m sure it had to be 40 years ago at The Ontario Crafts Council shop in Yorkville, Toronto. It was an expensive purchase for me and now that I look back on it – a somewhat daring one! I was being taught that thin was very difficult, smooth was were it was at,  clay pots were supposed to look like it was made of something else. This jug by Neil Liske of Alberta has remained an inspiration for the work I make today. This has given me licence to be direct with clay. Although I must admit the primary motivation for buying this pot was not the freedom of gesture. It was the blackheads!  It was the seventies and blackheads were proof of reduction firing. I built my first Olsen fast fire wood fired kiln not so that I could have wood ash but so that I too could have blackheads. An oatmeal glaze with iron spots was the real proof you were a potter.

I still love this jug. I wonder what happened to this potter? I’d like to say thanks and that I have enjoyed living with this pot these many years. You know I even like the blackheads and wonder

if they might come full circle in the clay world again.

Here are a couple of jugs I just made with a double upside down pretzel handle. Sounds like a wrastlin’ hold.