Katherine Houston - Hand Sculpted Porcelain Pea Pod

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This porcelain pea pod was hand sculpted and painted by the artist Katherine Houston in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1997. Ms. Houston is considered one of the finest American artists working in the medium of porcelain today. She is represented in museum collections and has received a commission from The White House for an American Pumpkin to be used as State Department gifts. Her subjects are always fruit, vegetables and flowers. Although her subject matter is narrow, the possible variation of size, color and texture is infinite. In a world filled with mass produced objects, owning a piece of Katherine Houston porcelain is an opportunity to reflect on a one of a kind object of museum quality art. There is no second piece exactly like this. Unlike ninety nine percent of porcelain figural pieces, Katherine Houston does not use molds. Her pieces are built up by hand with incredible skill and then lovingly painted with equal care and ability. By the unusual nature of this technique and the material involved, it is possible that after many hours of sculpting and painting an object may explode or be damaged in the kiln. perfect condition signed and dated 4" long x 1.25" wide We ship by UPS Ground ONLY within the United States. We ship by USPS Priority Mail International ONLY to Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. Buyers outside the United States please note : The final purchase price and shipping charge does NOT include duties, taxes or any additional brokerage fees. We accept PayPal ONLY. THE PROCESS The technique used by Katherine Houston ensures that her work is unique in the field, due to its sheer difficulty and complication. Her work requires painstaking attention to detail and can be an extraordinarily lengthy process. In order to create an ideal prototype, Ms. Houston will spend as long as it takes - often months - forming numerous models until she has created a single, ideal piece that achieves the envisioned form and balance. Some designs can take up to a year to conceive.In the beginning of the sculpting process the clay is often weighed, in order to produce a base of a certain size. It is then wedged to remove air pockets and to align the clay's molecules, which reduce the potential for cracking, as well as exploding in the kiln. The base is sculpted by "hollowing out" the hunk of clay, making its thickness as uniform as possible. At this point the work is skillfully carved and sculpted by hand, and textured with various tools, and also with natural objects. Next leaves, stems and other embellishing components are carefully added. When a piece is completely sculpted it is left to dry, and is now in the state called green-ware. The drying process can take from a few days to a few weeks. This stage is particularly precarious, as different components of a piece dry at different rates, and there is the risk of cracking and of components becoming separated from each other, unless drying is gradual and even. Pieces must be painstakingly weaned of their moisture - a process euphemistically known as "baby-sitting." At the same time, when a piece is fully dry and ready to be bisque fired, it is brittle and chalk-like, and is in its most fragile state. Pieces are then bisque-fired. This removes all moisture, and renders pieces firm enough to handle. Now in a state know as bisque-ware, pieces are ready to be high fired. Pieces in their bisque-ware state are dipped in a clear glaze and are then high-fired to a temperature of 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. This step holds the greatest risk, for if part of a piece is too dense, if a sealed air pocket exists, or if air holes are obstructed, the piece may explode in the kiln. Not only is the piece itself lost, there is the possibility the explosion might damage other pieces in the same firing. Upon survival of the high-fire firing, the piece is now vitrified, shiny, pure white hard paste ... read more

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