Marilee Schumann's Pots

2011-09-23T19:01:00.001-04:00

If you are interested in buying my pottery, most of which you can see here on this blog, you can go to my new Etsy site, etsy.com/people/marileeschumann.

2011-09-23T18:40:00.001-04:00

These two pots, round and textured, one peacock speckled blue and the other warm yellow, with four feet and little lugs on the shoulders, are what I've been making. They are each about 9 inches tall and 7 inches broad.

2011-09-23T18:14:00.002-04:00

Mike asked me to make a sauerkraut crock - apparently there are people who love fermented food, and this is what they need! It is 16 inches tall and 11 inches wide. It has a tight lid and a disk inside to weigh down the fermenting food. I will make them to order.

2011-09-23T18:12:00.003-04:00

Here are two yellow bowls, about 15 inches in diameter, side view and inside.

2011-09-23T18:09:00.000-04:00

2011-09-23T18:05:00.001-04:00

I made these primitive containers, carriers, baskets, vehicles, offerings, or whatever they are, last year, and I just figured out how to finish them with wire handles. They are 12 and 14 inches long.

2011-09-23T17:58:00.001-04:00

More footed pots, different colors, different sizes, from 8 to 15 inches.

2011-09-23T17:54:00.001-04:00

Two sides of the same pot

2011-08-04T09:56:00.003-04:00

Please come to the Totally Tea Show at Artworks in August, opening tomorrow, August 5, from 5-8.

Artworks

306 Park Row, in Chestertown, Maryland 21620

Rob Glebe curated a diverse selection of functional, sculptural and two-dimensional work all related to teapots and tea drinking, including his own gorgeous fabricated metal pots, Pete Saenger's stylized tea sets, Manick Burton's glorious tea pot sculptures, paintings and prints, student work, my tea pots (see them below) and a surprize offering from George and Cathy Lehmer.

2011-08-04T09:50:00.002-04:00

Here are some teapots, some with flat bottoms, some with feet, some with wire handles.

2011-08-04T09:48:00.000-04:00

2011-08-04T09:47:00.000-04:00

2011-08-04T09:46:00.000-04:00

2011-08-04T09:44:00.000-04:00

2011-05-17T15:30:00.002-04:00

2011 - It's been a while since I've added anything to this blog - which isn't to say that I haven't been making pots - I have. I've been faithful to "Recta Ratio Factibilium," our motto at the Still Pond Studio which means "the right making of the thing to be made." The bowls are strong and sturdy, the cups have comfortable handles, the cannisters hold their cookies, the plates are flat and round, and the teapots don't drip. Ho Hum.

Except for one example below, Purple Haze Pot, which is big (inefficient use of space), has an opening too small to put anything into (so what's the point?) and is light as air (it could break!) Pretty color, though. So we came up with a new motto, "Sexta Ratio Factibilium," or "the sexy making of the thing to be made."

Look for more in the future. Maybe.

2011-05-17T15:27:00.000-04:00

Pot of gold

2011-05-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

Purple Haze Pot

2011-05-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

Peacock Pot

2011-05-17T15:23:00.000-04:00

Big Red Teapot

2011-05-17T15:21:00.000-04:00

Golden Grass Teapot

2011-05-17T15:18:00.001-04:00

Sunny Side Teapot

2010-06-19T20:55:00.003-04:00

I won't be at the Farmer's Market for a couple of weeks - I'm going to an iron pour and a bronze pour over in the DC area. Here are some things I've made lately, starting with these 2 tall oval vases or spoon holders - about 10 inches. $25.

2010-06-19T20:53:00.000-04:00

Three little pitchers - about 3-5 inches in any direction - they have 4 feet. $25

2010-06-19T20:43:00.002-04:00

Little lidded boxes - they're oval - 3-5 inches high, 2-4 inches wide - I call them salt cellars, because someone at the Farmers Market asked me to make him a salt cellar, and this is what I came up with. Hey, Salt Cellar Guy, here they are. $25.

2010-05-20T19:37:00.004-04:00

Chestertown Farmers Market - May 22

If it doesn't rain cats and dogs, I'll be there with some new things.

2010-04-16T12:54:00.003-04:00

Now it’s the spring of 2010, and the Farmers’ Market in Chestertown has started up again, where I have had so much fun and satisfaction selling pottery and seeing and talking to all the friends and strangers that go there.

I have started up with a new approach to making pots. I had wanted to try something different. I have always been very conservative in my work, I might even say timid, keeping with simple unadorned pots with undecorated surfaces, fired in a large gas kiln to cone 6. The size of the kiln has always been a problem for me, since I’m not hugely productive, it takes a long time to fill the kiln, and I tended not to experiment with glazes because of the long intervals between firings. Still, I had found some beautiful glazes that complemented my pots, and I was having some success.

I was planning to go to Nicaragua with Potters for Peace, but before I went I bought some low-fire red clay. Then, when I was in Nicaragua, I saw how low fire clay could be used, how it can be functional and decorative, and how decoration can be done with simple slips and muted colors. I used the things I saw as a stepping off point for new work when I came home. I was looking particularly at the pots of Loma Panda, an isolated village in the northern highlands of Nicaragua.

I have also been thinking about the status of low fired pottery in the world of ceramics today. It seems to me that I see it more now, maybe just because I am looking for it. And I have been thinking that for the last 60 years or so, since Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada visited the United States from Japan, American potters have been working in a culture like Japanese ceramics – where all the pottery is made by men. We – men and women – have been making strong, masculine stoneware pots fired to high temperatures. Meanwhile, in Nicaragua and other simpler cultures where the pots are traditionally made by women, the pots are made with earthenware, fired to lower temperatures in wood burning kilns. This more feminine culture of ceramics is softer and more colorful and the firing is easier and uses less fuel.

It just seems to me that the time has come for me, and possibly for our ceramics culture in general, to leave behind the stern masculinity of high fired stoneware and move towards an aesthetic practice that is feminine, expressively decorated, less demanding of strict formality and challenging chemistry, and that uses less fuel.

2010-03-29T09:31:00.004-04:00

Reliquaries

9" high

9" wide

$250

2009-12-17T14:04:00.000-05:00

Here are some new pots. I hope to be at the Farmer's Market this Saturday, December 19, if the weather isn't too bad.

2009-12-17T14:03:00.000-05:00

Green jar

$50

2009-12-17T14:02:00.000-05:00

Yellow jar

$50

2009-12-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

Red and yellow Bauhaus style jars

$30 each

2009-12-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

White bowl with yellow interior

15" wide, 4" deep

$60

2009-12-17T13:58:00.000-05:00

White bowl with white interior

13" wide, 4" deep

$50

2009-12-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

Red and white bowl with blue flash

13" wide, 4" deep

$50

2009-12-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

Red and green bowl

12" wide, 3" deep

$40

2009-12-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

Rustic chairs made from recycled lumber, photographed in the Tiny House.

2009-12-17T10:09:00.000-05:00

2009-12-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

This chair is a reference to Louise Bourgeois' Femme Maison drawings and sculptures.

2009-12-17T10:01:00.000-05:00

2009-11-04T16:26:00.000-05:00

Come on out to The Arts at Still Pond Station this weekend, November 7 & 8. We're part of the Artworks Studio Tour (http://www.artworkschestertown.org/studiotours.htm).

You can visit the Clay Studio and see Joan Reid's and my pots, as well as paintings and sculptures by Allan Johnson, glass by Doug Conner, sculptures by Pam Foss, pots by Amy Bower, and mixed media paintings by Karen Peck.

For directions go to http://www.artsatstillpond.com/

2009-11-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

This is one of several cookie jar/cannisters with different glazes. This one is 12 inches high and holds at least 5 pounds of flour.

2009-11-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

There are six of these interesting soup bowls.

2009-11-04T16:21:00.000-05:00

This is a big bowl, about 16 inches in diameter.

2009-08-05T17:32:00.000-04:00

This is what my pottery table looked like at the Farmers' Market last Saturday. It was a beautiful, lively scene.

2009-07-03T15:57:00.000-04:00

Queen of Diamonds. 3 inches tall. Click on the image for detail. Sold

2009-07-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

Jack of Spades. 4 1/2 inches tall. Four for $40. I have eight.

2009-07-03T15:54:00.000-04:00

Cannisters are 10 1/2 inches tall and would be nice for flour or cookies. The openings are wide enough to put a measuring cup into. Click on the image for detail. Sold.

2009-07-03T15:53:00.000-04:00

2009-07-03T15:52:00.000-04:00

2009-05-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

Teapots are 6 1/2 - 7 " tall. Click on the images for detail. (all sold except for the lavendar one)

2009-05-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

These cannisters are 8" tall.

$35 each.

2009-05-17T09:45:00.000-04:00

This jar is 6" tall. It could be used for sugar or salt or maybe coffee beans in the kitchen. (sold)

2009-05-17T09:35:00.000-04:00

This is an ornamental jar, 8" tall. (sold)

2009-05-11T09:27:00.000-04:00

These jars are about 8 1/2" tall. The knobs are cast bronze. Some are stones, and some are cast from deer bones. They all have different glazes. (all sold)

2009-05-11T09:17:00.000-04:00

Brook and I had a lot of fun at the Farmer's Market in Chestertown on Saturday. You can see everyone you know there, and everyone else, too. I plan to be there with pots to sell on the first and third Saturday's of the month.

This jug is 14" tall. It's glazed with oil spot and temmoku glazes and fired in a gas kiln.

Click on the image for luscious detail.

2009-05-03T17:28:00.000-04:00