- Chalice
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At age 88, when most artists would be well into retirement, Beatrice Wood embarked on a new body of work aesthetically different from her earlier ceramics. Critically lauded as innovative and expressive, the new work almost eclipsed her past objects. The signature pots from this period are a series of complex, often large-scale chalices. Assembled from thrown and hand-built forms, the chalices are totemic, sculptural compositions that demonstrate true harmony between form and glaze.
At once vivid and subtle, Wood's glazes have depth and tonal richness and seem to be molded with light. This spectrum was achieved through her all-over, in-glaze luster that, when fired, caused metallic salts to rise to the surface, a complex process almost impossible to control. Here, the gold luster glaze has irredescent highlights as well as brown undertones that enhance the depth and texture of the surface.
ProvenanceThe artist; acquired by Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio; given to MFAH, 2007.
Exhibition History"Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute," American Craft Museum, New York, 3 March - 8 June 1997; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, 13 September 1997 - 4 January 1998; Museum of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, Florida; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio.
"The Scholar's Eye: Contemporary Ceramics from the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 16 May - 1 September 2008.
"Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 4 March - 3 June, 2012.
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