What Makes a Potter - by Janet Koplos (Hardcover)

About the Book

Award-winning art critic Koplos captures the history and zeitgeist of the functional pottery craft!

Book Synopsis

Why are people still handmaking utilitarian pottery in the 21st century? Doesn't industrial production take care of all our storage and cooking and serving needs? Yet, in all corners of the US, pottery is being discovered, studied, developed, produced, sold, collected, used, displayed, preserved, and passed down. Answers to these questions are vividly realized in the words of potters themselves--funny, philosophical, intense, and inspiring life narratives captured by Janet Koplos, an award-winning art critic who has followed American studio ceramics for the last four decades. The depth and breadth of this book are unprecedented in American craft history. Fifty individuals or pairs of potters offer their experiences, their thoughts, and their lessons learned. When art is at home in the kitchen, dining room, or living room, as is the case with functional pottery, the impact on our lives can be profound.

Review Quotes

"Koplos zooms around the contemporary American pottery scene profiling eclectic, beguiling potters with divergent design philosophies and traditions who've fashioned meaningful, sustainable lives . . . a valuable reference."--Foreword Reviews

"The diversity of pathways into the role of potter is fascinating and this book is the best source for revealing that diversity. It's clearly the product of a long period of intensive work...I'd like to say that this book is the best of its kind but as far as I know, it's the only one of its kind."--Ceramics Art + Perception

"There is no better-qualified writer to take on this subject; she has lived with handmade pots for five decades, written more than 2,500 articles for some two dozen periodicals, and received awards for her critical writing...I have never read a pottery book that inspired so much underlining and marginalia; so much curiosity enhancement and gratification in learning the stories of fifty potters, many of whom had been 'just names.' . . . This book should be must reading for anyone who cares the least bit about making pots to the best of their ability; who wants to know the human sources behind the pots they use (or wish they did) and what it took to make those pots exist in the world."--Jack Troy, reviewer, Studio Potter Magazine

About the Author

Janet Koplos is an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council and a contributing editor to Art in America magazine. She is coauthor of Makers: A History of American Studio Craft and author of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture, among many other books, articles, and reviews.