1960s James Lovera Early Work Ceramic Bowl

Description

Title: Ceramic Bowl.
Artist: James Lovera (1920-2015).
Origin: California.
Period: 1960s.

Description: Offered is a traditionally wheel-thrown earthenware bowl, features … more Title: Ceramic Bowl.
Artist: James Lovera (1920-2015).
Origin: California.
Period: 1960s.

Description: Offered is a traditionally wheel-thrown earthenware bowl, features a Japanese Raku glaze in a vivid yellow over paper thin walls that flare out from a small ring foot, etched cursive signature to underside 'lovera'.

Measures: 5.5 D x 4 H inches. Weighs: approx. 2 pounds.

About the artist and work: James Lovera (age 94), grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Hayward, California, and lived a vibrant life as an artist devoted to sharing his vision of beauty. He was fascinated with the colors and natural beauty of California, influenced his attendance of the California School of Fine Arts (The Art Institute). He participated in the 1939 World's Fair and was a founding member of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California. After graduation (1942), Lovera began creating pottery in his home studio and worked and studied with famed ceramist Marguerite Wildenhain in Pond Farm, California. Early on his ceramic work gained him recognition, lead to a faculty position at San Jose State University (1948). Lovera treasured his sabbatical year in Japan (1976) as he pursued his love of Asian art. He retired Professor Emeritus after 38 years teaching color, design and ceramics. Lovera viewed retirement as a time of new beginnings. During that time he designed and built a Japanese style home and pottery studio in California's Gold Country where he continued to create the ceramics and glazes that were his passion. His works have been exhibited throughout the United States and the world.

James Lovera’s fascination with the bowl form led him to produce a large focused body of work. He used porcelain to throw his perfect paper thin walled pieces that flare out from a tiny ring foot. The types of glazes he used are direct opposites although both reference the natural world he saw around him. They can range from the textural crater glazes for which he is perhaps most well-known to glossy Asian inspired glazes in vivid colors as exemplified in this striking early art piece.

As Lovera concentrated on perfecting form, he unleashed upon the "canvas" of his chargers and bowls interpretations of the textures and hues that surrounded him in nature. Many of the vessels Lovera created are exemplary of midcentury Modernist concerns for the clarity of form and function. As in this piece, it is clear to see Lovera's study and emulation of Song Dynasty (960-1279 c.e.) ceramics, which are among the highest achievements in Chinese porcelain. Lovera was moved by the regard during that historical period for simplicity and the distillation of form to its essence. He has also pushed the chemistry of his glazes to fit to porcelain like a skin.

Lovera is best known for his crater glazes, taking them, beginning in the 1970s, to unprecedented levels of lathered, volcanic definition. Since 2000, Lovera has revisited his longstanding crater formulas, reinventing them as necessary to create surfaces that are now fully dimensional and riddled with thousands of vesicles. Lovera's mastery of both material and kiln is required to prevent the viscosity of the glaze from shattering a bowl's thin walls. less