I have been asked if I miss working in the porcelain studio. The answer is Yes and No. I had over fifty years of potting at my wheel, casting, and hand-building objects of art; so, Yes. Since 2017, I have been very busy painting and working in the blacksmith shop; so, No.
The big reason I do not miss the pottery studio, is that Making, wherever it happens, has continuous personal threads. I love Making. I could have spent the rest of my life making beautiful porcelain bowls because they are simple, enjoyable, and oh so difficult at the same time. Making fruit bowls in the blacksmith shop is just an extension of my history in a different medium. They are difficult, complicated, and present challenges for me to work out.
I am constantly reminded of how slow Making is. In this computer driven world, things happen in nanoseconds. Working at a potter’s wheel, at the forge or at my easel painting, is the complete opposite. Most of the Arts are the same. Things do happen, but at a pace that matches my heartbeat. I love slow. I get to look, really look and examine negative and positive spaces, moving and interacting. I get to see, then make very small changes that make a huge difference to how the Artwork evolves. Slow is thoughtful and beautiful!
Western educated Art people usually find anything that functions to be not Fine Art. They are wrong. Everything about a bowl is sculptural. The spatial forces inside and outside each shape become powerful movers of support and definition. Anything you can say about a Brancusi sculpture can be said about a good bowl. Bowls are sculptures that work. Art that works!
I am working with copper tubing that I get from a local scrap metal shop. Re-use. It is accessible and works well in the long run. Good color. The tubes are hammer flattened, annealed and woven into sheets. Copper rivets are used to tie the strips together. They are then forged into bowls and annealed many times before being plunged into rainwater. They are then hammer hardened to final form. The bowls create very interesting shadows, so they love bright light. They also love fresh fruit.
I made each of these for interesting people that I know and care for. I am a very privileged boy. One is made specifically for a friend’s long table, and one is made for a special way of life. One is made for being in the woods and coming home to a snack. It goes on…
Harlan
Comments 32
Hiya Harlan. Well said. Also making things isn’t a choice more between a need and an addiction. I was organizing some things this week and had an old ceramic birdhouse that I received from my friend Witold’s estate. I was delighted to find your imprint on the bottom. It used to reside in the Barbary shop.
Good morning Harlan,
Someone sent me your blog. I’m very glad that you are still creating and MAKING!
Many years ago, I bought a soup toureen from you with a copper lid. It seems natural for you to have made this progression to copper.
I have many of your pots displayed in my home. I think of you often, fondly… kinship.
I took a little seminar from you with Fusion years ago.You talked about your quiet pots and that they were a vessel.designed to work in harmony with what they contained. I have remained conscious of that, and teach that.
Your new bowls are vibrant..
Yes, we have 50 years of clay behind us.
That’s a good chunk of clay to lean back on!
Beautiful work – I love how you (we) keep the creativity flowing Harlan. All the best to you and Maureen for the Holiday Season.
The only synonyms that fit for Harlan’s ‘slow’ are steady and progressive. Brilliant but gorgeous too.
Bravo Harlan, you did manage and master this skill ! Your photos are also great …
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to you and Maureen from Enzo (the dog) and me.
Keep on working, it is beautiful.
Big hugs !
Harlan, Your work always gets me to slow down, to look, to take in tone and form, material and the maker’s hand. You may be privileged knowing the dear friends upon whom you bestow your work, but they are all blessed to have you in their world, and to have your art to remind them again and again to look, to see, to take the time that you took to create, to behold the art. Thank you.
Every year I think of the ceramics you provided for Ufundi exhibitions and Christmas sales. I wondered what you were doing since the last I saw were the fabulous hanging boat lamps. Recently I asked one of my granddaughters what she wanted me to leave her in my will and the first choice (among others) was one of the 4 celadon lamps from the 1980s. I know she would also like some of the plates and cups from the same period. They are all used for special occasions but the lamps, every day.
My favourite is the boat/lamp I bought to celebrate retirement from the Art Bank, many years later.
I am so excited for you, that you have found another medium of expression and are still enjoying the work.
Hello to Maureen and wish you both many more years of play – the right word for the joy in everything I have of yours.
❤️
These are stunning !!! 👏👏👏👏👏 Anything you touch turns to gold.
Wow! These are beautiful!
I LOVE your Metal work as much as your pottery, I first fell in love with it in 1977 at a show you had at the Thomas Gallery in Winnipeg corner of Osborne and Stafford:)
Sooooo interesting. Thankyou for sending. Thought provoking, love the colors and shapes and overall influence on my mind and senses. I want to put a loaf of bread (homemade and long) on one of those long ones! I also think it’s pretty wonderful that you have kept up creating, thinking, planning, making as well as sharing. Thankyou.
You are amazing! Keep it up and have a great holiday season, Greg
It’s heartwarming to see your results with embracing your blacksmith shop. I’ve hammered away and welded up some metal on my anvil, flat metal table and vice. Unfortunately that ended with me in Emergency with a painfully swollen elbow. So, I’ve been turning my time to my summer car. It gets great compliments from strangers who give a thumbs up from a sidewalk or while I’m gassing up. When I was with Sheridan, alumni would apologize to me for not being in clay anymore. I was always shocked and would reply that holds no weight with me and that my only goal was that they knew about ‘functional art’ even if they weren’t participating. That when they take an interest in any endeavour they’re doing great. Stay warm in your shop and enjoy your Winter Solstice with Maureen and the rest of your family. Hugh
How wonderful to see them.
Beautiful work Harlan. I will look forward to another visit in 2026.
Yay Harlan! You are so right The delight comes in the struggle to actually work out an idea and then make it visible. Years ago when CAD became part of our world I asked my friend EB ZEIDLER what effect it would have. He replied that the results of computer designing was too fast. He said the most wonderful ideas come to you during the slow thinking as you gradually make your idea visible.
Thank you for ontinuing to make bowls with a heart.
xo
Hi Harlan…. So wonderful to hear from you…. And view your energetic photos.
Have a GREAT Christmas..
Phil and Marilyno
wow these are glorious and so different from the delicacy of your flower vases i grew up with.
I love the whimsy and the irregularity and I totally agree- making in all its forms is the point- what and with what , is not always as relevant.
Happy Making!
love Lauren MckINley Renzetti
Harlan – these are just wonderful and an interesting change from your “normal” pottery.
How wonderful to be a maker. It is a gift easily taken away at a moment’s notice. Keep dreaming and making as long as you can.
Beautiful work Harlan. Thank you.
Delightful 😊
Delightful 😊 Bravo Encore…
fabulous
I love your bowls! They are beautiful!
Your work makes me happy and strangely satisfied.
I like copper pipes and copper rivets and hammers heads of all sorts.
Your personalized design inspires me.
Thank you for making us part of your art.
Eric Bennett
Wowed me to see these exquisite pieces of art/work. Very functional and unique. You are a renaissance man! Thanks Irene
Beautiful work Harlan. I’m envious. I have to get back to Making.
John
Harlan, It’s good to see you having fun. Nice work!
David Field and I were one of the lucky recipients of a Harlan House fruit bowl. Like everything that Harlan creates, it is a work of art: beautiful in form, elegant, and yet functional. We marvel at the way it sits perfectly elevated on its three feet while the space between the strands of luminescent copper dance. The bowl captures a lifetime of this artist’s wisdom and vision. We will forever take pleasure in its zen-like purity and beauty. Thank you, Harlan – with much love and gratitude, David and Kathryn
Exciting and beautiful work Harlan!
Enjoyed the artistic functionality of the creative mind!
From rustic to polished and refined! Your bowls are beautiful, with my own preference being the nest like ones .
I admire your creative talents Harlan ! I enjoy your enthusiasm in trying new approaches and your ability to produce something out of scrap of copper into beautiful practical treasures.