Ceramics Recommendations - For all ages

BOOKS for ADULTS

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Ceramics of the World: From 4000 B. C. to the Present

by Lorenzo Camusso and Sandro Bortone
Abrams Publishers, 1991

The editors of this history call to our attention that, “ceramics are as old as civilization” but no older. Experts in their fields, including John Boardman on Greek vases, trace the history of ceramics from their earliest appearance through the twentieth century.

Connoisseur's Guide to Chinese Ceramics

by Cecile and Michel Beurdeley
Harper & Row, 1974

This lavishly illustrated volume covers Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century.

Dreaming in Clay on the Coast of Mississippi: Love and Art at Shearwater

by Christopher Maurer with Maria Estrella Iglesisias
Doubleday, 2000

Dreaming in Clay tells the dramatic and often romantic story of Shearwater Pottery, one of America’s oldest and finest pottery workshops. It began almost a century ago when a New Orleans society woman vowed that her three sons would become artists. Her son, Peter Anderson, brother of artist Walter Anderson, founded Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Mississippi in 1928. Four generations later the family is still making pots there.

French Faience

by Jeanne Giacomotti
Universe Books, 1963

Jeanne Giacomotti of the Louvre presents the colorful faience pottery also known as majolica or delft in this well illustrated volume. The examples come from all over France.

Guide to North Carolina Potters

by Johnna M. Ritchie
WaterMark Publications, 1996

Divided into four regions/sections: mountain, Piedmont, Piedmont-Seagrove, and coastal. Includes directions to potteries, hours of operation, names of working potters, types of clay and glaze colors, forming and firing methods.

History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms

by Elaine Levin
Abrams, 1988

This history surveys American ceramics from earthenware in Jamestown in 1607 through contemporary American ceramics. Levin 's history presents and illustrates kinds of pottery, techniques, schools, and individual potters. Here you will learn about yellowware and spongeware, porcelain and tobacco spit, Art Nouveau and Newcomb, as well as Louis Comfort Tiffany and Judy Chicago.

Potter’s Art: A Complete History of Pottery in Britain

by Garth Clark
Phaidon, 1995

In this comprehensive overview of British pottery, ceramics authority, Garth Clark, divides his examination into four parts: the peasant potter, the industrial potter, the artist potter, and finally the studio potter. With lavish illustrations and informative text, Clark traces the history of British pottery from rudimentary and functional pots to ceramic forms often without function produced by studio potters today.

Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina

by Fred W. Morrison
University of North Carolina Press, 1986

Folklore professor, Charles Zug, tells the story of North Carolina folk pottery from its beginnings in the middle of the eighteenth century into the twentieth century. This history includes photographs of pots, potters, and kilns in the major North Carolina pottery centers from the eastern Piedmont to Buncombe County in western North Carolina. Zug portrays the distinct regional pottery patterns and introduces the major families within these traditions.

KIDS BOOKS

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Ceramics: From Clay to Kiln

by Harvey Weiss
Young Scott Books, 1964

Teacher and sculptor Harvey Weiss introduces basic techniques for handling clay and gives step by step instructions for making specific projects. As well as providing practical instructions Weiss has chosen illustrations of pottery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Readers of any age will enjoy seeing “William” the Egyptian hippopotamus from the XII Dynasty and Rodin’s “Balzac,” alongside examples of inspiring ceramics projects.

Fired Up! Making Pottery in Ancient Times

by Rivka Gonen
Runestone Press, 1993

As part of the "Buried Worlds" series, Fired Up explains how ancient peoples learned to make pots and what the left behind pots and pottery remains may tell us about the cultures.

MULTIMEDIA

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Ceramic Art of North Carolina

by Mint Museum (Charlotte, N.C.)
1997

Includes a history of the ceramics tradition in North Carolina ; an interactive map of N.C. potting regions ; video selections of potters at work ;database of over 1200 images from the Mint Museum collection. [CD-ROM]

WEBSITES

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Newcomb Pottery
http://www.tulane.edu/~wc/pottery/

Newcomb Pottery is considered one of the most significant American art potteries of the first half of the twentieth century. Newcomb Pottery was established in 1894 as the practical part of the “practical and literary” education offered at Newcomb College in New Orleans. The distinctive wares of Newcomb Pottery were influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement and inspired by Louisiana flora.

Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art
http://www.ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu/

The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art’s collection includes ceramic and glass objects ranging from pottery shards recovered from ancient civilizations to contemporary sculpture and installation pieces.