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Pottery from the Ground That He Stands on |
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Those early containers evolved like any art form or technology with shapes and sizes, handles and bases, and all manner of colorful decoration and glaze. But as Strader says, “Decoration had a substantially utilitarian function.” Think about a time before Tupperware, and keep going. You’ll get to a point where pottery was made to be used, and you had to have it. There were handles and legs to put the pot over the fire. Spices were carried, goats were cooked and a clay pot was the kitchen. Today, with modern materials and mass production, graduated, ovenproof, plastic bowls have taken over. Pottery is a luxury. Strader has a bachelor’s degree in art history and a long interest in pottery as a hobby. He loves exhibits of pottery in museums. He says, “Nothing takes the place of looking at pottery and feeling it. You’ll get a much better idea about designing a bean pot, for instance, from studying history and functional design than by looking at a picture in a book or a digital image on a computer monitor.” He likes to get his hands into the clay and form shapes that are appropriate and useful. Strader reaches for his “storm jar” and turns it slowly in his hands. “I designed this,” he says, “when we first moved to Vermont and discovered the number of times that the power goes out.” |
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The simple storm jar holds candles. When the lid is inverted it becomes a candle holder. It is functional yet at the same time beautiful. Strader’s maple syrup jug is similarly clever and simple. A stout pitcher with a cork in the top, it holds syrup to be heated on the stove or in the microwave, and with the cork set back in the top, it can be returned to the refrigerator. It works, and it’s so much more than an idle souvenir from Vermont, the home of real maple syrup. Beyond the utilitarian forms he produces, Strader prides himself on his use of local materials. “Most potters buy preprocessed clay in 50-pound sacks,” he says. “They want consistency. It’s the same stuff that Champion uses to make spark plugs or Kohler uses to make toilets.” It is consistent, and in a run of thousands of spark plugs or hundreds of toilets the individual units are, and they should be, indistinguishable. Handmade pottery on the other hand, is just that. It has character. Each piece is distinctive. Strader uses words like “unique” and “exciting.” He says, “When I’m done with a syrup jug or an umbrella stand, I want it to say something.” Each year he buys two or three tons of blended clay to be used as the “body” of his pottery. The result is a stoneware product, which is hard and watertight. Then using local clays, to some it’s just Vermont dirt, from the Sleeper’s River in North Danville, the East Peacham Brook, the Onion River in Marshfield or an island in the Connecticut River he creates a finish glaze. The local clay is screened, perhaps mixed with ground granite, wood ash or other local materials and applied to the object prior to a final and higher temperature firing. The result is a finished product that - does speak. “It’s not just made here,” he says. “It’s from this place.” He pauses and looks out the window. Then he looks back and says, “It is this place.” Strader says, “The furthest thing from my mind is for the glaze to be just pretty. I want it to say something about the place when it’s finished. I want it to open doors |
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Harley Strader makes pottery on the Mack Mountain Road in Peacham. His studio and his showroom are compact, yet he makes pottery that is beautiful and distinctive for its form and color. No two pieces are alike, and that is exactly what satisfied customers find so appealing. |