Many people are able to manipulate the clay and leave an amount of roughness to the surface. Seams and cracks are left to show the characteristics of the damp clay, and you can feel the tension and springiness where it curves around a corner. Alas, I can't seem to do this, as I am always smoothing and sponging the surface to make it clean and straight.
Another thing I like about these containers is the surface treatment. It looks like the slabs in the pots with the green bases were covered in the slip or underglaze before forming the shape and then accented later. I also like the grooved marks.
It is always a mystery to me about how people make the choices they do, out of all the possibilities that lay before them. Is it really spontaneous, or have hours of preparation laid the groundwork for being able to think up a perfect accent mark, or color to add, or some other detail that makes the piece come alive.
From his website:
"Robert Cooper is an established ceramicist who has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. He is fascinated by the persistence of artefacts and ideas. He often uses found objects, such as pottery shards from the Thames foreshore, which are imbued with a previous life and function, as a starting point for his work.
He has, for many years, employed recycling as a mode of working. Different elements such as clays, oxides and glazes left over from teaching sessions, discontinued ceramic transfers, printed imagery from popular culture and even pieces of previous work are recombined to create new narratives with multiple meanings."
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