Michael McCarthy Ceramics
Showing at Pinch May 9 – June 22
Reception with the artist
Friday, May 9
6-9 p.m.
Pinch will be featuring the functional ceramics of Cummington, Massachusetts-based potter Michael McCarthy from May 9 – June 22. An array of forms will be shown, including delicate mugs, large serving bowls, covered jars and elegantly-handled vases. McCarthy works in a variety of glazes in both stoneware and porcelain clay bodies.
McCarthy, born in 1974 in Albany, New York, refers to a 1995 trip to Greece as an important event in his pottery career. The utilitarian unadorned Greek pots impressed McCarthy, as compared to pots typically appreciated by historians and collectors. This appreciation for form and usefulness is apparent in McCarthy’s pottery now, thirteen years later.
From 2000 to 2003, McCarthy apprenticed with Mark Shapiro, where he both assisted Shapiro and spent long hours developing his own technique and style. In contrast to Shapiro’s decorations, McCarthy’s only additions are horizontal bands or ridges that succeed in highlighting the pot’s form.
McCarthy was featured in the February 2008 Ceramics Monthly, where writer Scott Norris, describes his own experience with McCarthy’s pottery,
A small porcelain bowl, with a pale celadon glaze and walls that are translucent in the light, is the first bowl I use every day. Made by Michael McCarthy, the bowl is shaped by four evenly-spaced thumb prints pressing outward below the rim. The distortion is subtle, yet it transforms the bowl from a round object into something approaching but not quite reaching, a square. The bowl hovers between regularity and irregularity, delicate in appearance and comfortable in my hand.
Please join Michael McCarthy for his opening reception at Pinch, on Friday, May 9 from 6-9 p.m.
Reception with the artist
Friday, May 9
6-9 p.m.
Pinch will be featuring the functional ceramics of Cummington, Massachusetts-based potter Michael McCarthy from May 9 – June 22. An array of forms will be shown, including delicate mugs, large serving bowls, covered jars and elegantly-handled vases. McCarthy works in a variety of glazes in both stoneware and porcelain clay bodies.
McCarthy, born in 1974 in Albany, New York, refers to a 1995 trip to Greece as an important event in his pottery career. The utilitarian unadorned Greek pots impressed McCarthy, as compared to pots typically appreciated by historians and collectors. This appreciation for form and usefulness is apparent in McCarthy’s pottery now, thirteen years later.From 2000 to 2003, McCarthy apprenticed with Mark Shapiro, where he both assisted Shapiro and spent long hours developing his own technique and style. In contrast to Shapiro’s decorations, McCarthy’s only additions are horizontal bands or ridges that succeed in highlighting the pot’s form.
McCarthy was featured in the February 2008 Ceramics Monthly, where writer Scott Norris, describes his own experience with McCarthy’s pottery,
A small porcelain bowl, with a pale celadon glaze and walls that are translucent in the light, is the first bowl I use every day. Made by Michael McCarthy, the bowl is shaped by four evenly-spaced thumb prints pressing outward below the rim. The distortion is subtle, yet it transforms the bowl from a round object into something approaching but not quite reaching, a square. The bowl hovers between regularity and irregularity, delicate in appearance and comfortable in my hand.
Please join Michael McCarthy for his opening reception at Pinch, on Friday, May 9 from 6-9 p.m.
