Flower and Ash

After retiring from a career that had nothing to do with clay, I reactivated the self-expression that ceramics lends itself to. Mostly I electric fire, tho occasionally I have the opportunity to get pieces into a wood-burning kiln. About ten years ago I was invited to join in the launch of a fantastic, huge, angama kiln, named Fushigigama (loosely “wonder kiln”), at the New Hampshire Institute of Art’s (NHIA) Sharon Art Center, in the backwoods of rural New Hampshire.

I made a table piece called "Escape Box". The shallow box is made of porcelain, approx. 3x3x3/4", and has a shino glaze on the lid, plus a bit of bling. The firing produced lovely earthy swatches of beautiful black ash against the white of the claybody.

This piece is a metaphor for the ability to escape hostage trauma.

Lifting the lid reveals an excavation. The underside of the lid is embellished with a red flower and a sprinkle of micro glitter.

Turn the box over and the escape hole is exposed to the external world, as well as the flower, which represents hope.

This little box became a favored piece. The rich experience of returning to clay work and enjoying the anagama firing, meeting experts, professionals, hobbyists, and students in the NH ceramics community, supercharged me and instilled a motivation to “get on with it”, specific to relative to art/creative expression.

The Escape Box became the inspiration for the logo for Lee U Ceramics. The logo is called Flower and Ash.

Should help for hope be needed, contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline or text BEGIN to 88788