Vase c. 20th century

This is Geoffrey Wheeler’s Vase, sitting here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It is a ceramic work, with a lovely, muted turquoise glaze that reminds me of a stormy sea. I wonder what it was like for Wheeler to work with clay, coaxing it into this elegant form. You can almost feel him, pushing and pulling, as the vase comes alive, a three-dimensional gesture in space. The little orange and grey details popping through the turquoise skin feel like quirky little afterthoughts, or maybe unplanned surprises that emerged during firing. There’s a kind of dialogue going on in the vase, between intention and accident. And in this way the artwork has a lot in common with painting. The whole process is so physical and intuitive. I often think about the tradition of ceramics – how each artist builds upon the knowledge and techniques of those who came before. They each leave their little mark on the world, a testament to the endless possibilities of working with our hands.