Nancy Fuller 'Midsummer Moon Jar'
Dimensions - H 28cm x W 29.5cm x Ø 30cm
Materials - Wood-fired own stoneware blend, china clay and wild clay slips, natural ash glaze
Method - Hand-built, anagama-fired three times for 4 days and 3 nights
Care - Wipe gently with a damp cloth
Description
This jar is a hand-built vessel shaped through fire, time, and elemental unpredictability. Created from a wood-fired stoneware blend with layers of china clay and wild clay slips, the form carries a softly weighted presence, its silhouette a subtle curved diamond shape rising from a flat base toward a wide, flat, open mouth.
Anagama-fired three times over the course of four days and three nights, the surface bears the quiet evidence of the kiln’s atmosphere. Matt and delicately textured, it shifts through burnt ochre yellows into cooler earthy grey tones, with natural ash deposits and flame movement creating depth and variation across the piece. No two firings are ever alike, giving each jar its own distinct character.
Both sculptural and grounded, the Midsummer Moon Jar evokes the contrast of midsummer light against stone and ash, timeless, tactile, and deeply connected to the rhythms of the natural world.
About the Artist
Nancy Fuller is Taiwanese by birth and raised in Scotland. After training as a printmaker, she discovered wood-fired ceramics when she returned to Taiwan in 2000 to study Chinese Mandarin.
All of Nancy's pots are fired in her anagama which she was able to design and build herself through the financial support of the Scottish Arts Council. The ancient forms of the Japanese tsubo and kame continue to inspire her, not only visually but also physically. The spatial awareness of the pots that comes through making, carrying and firing them gives them an almost human dimension. Coiling gives softer outlines, which change further during the firing process, helping her achieve the natural quality she's looking for. The clay is the starting point for all her work, and through her choice of raw materials combined with her firing technique, she has developed her own wood-fired aesthetic.
