This year, the theme for our annual readership-wide contest explores things that are critical and essential, including everyday routines, the visual foundations of art and design, and the earth and its forces. —Eds.

1 Brian Chen’s bud vase centerpiece, 12½ in. (32 cm) in length, stoneware, slip, soda fired to cone 10, 2022. 2 Matt Becker’s Fableware: Spring, 36 in. (91 cm) in height, stoneware, fired to mid-range temperature in oxidation, 2021.

3 Isys Hennigar’s Sap Rising, 30 in. (76 cm) in length, handbuilt and slip-cast stoneware, glaze, china paint, luster, decals, copper, 2021.4 ChengOu Yu’s Double Take #3, 18 in. (46 cm) in height, handbuilt stoneware, glaze, fired multiple times to cone 6, 2021. 5 Ali Della Bitta’s Landscaping Memory Composition No. 02, 7½ in. (19 cm) in height, low-fire clay, mid-range stoneware, pigmented high-fire porcelain, glaze, underglaze, fired in oxidation, mixed media, 2022. 6 Jonathan Christensen Caballero’s Balance/Equilibrio, 10½ in. (27 cm) in width, press-molded and handbuilt earthenware, fired to cone 1, gold luster, 2022.7 Mary Fox’s Chalice Mounted in Rock, 21 in. (54 cm) in height, slip cast, saggar fired with sawdust, seaweed, coal, and copper carbonate to cone 06, Vancouver Island sandstone, 2021. 8 Nicholas Bernard’s Patchwork Bottle, 9 in. (23 cm) in height, wheel-thrown porcelain, fired to cone 10 in reduction, 2022.9 Jiang Shufang’s Random Wave Series, to 7½ in. (19 cm) in height, slip-cast ceramics, fired to 2246°F (1230°C) in oxidation, 2022. Photo: Geonha Park.10 Marianne Chenard’s Drawing. Fire (detail), to 6 ft. (1.8 m) in diameter, porcelain, inkjet print on watercolor paper, wood, 2021. 11 Marianne Chenard’s Drawing. Fire, to 6 ft. (1.8 m) in diameter, porcelain, inkjet print on watercolor paper, wood, 2021. 12 Eric Ordway’s mug, white stoneware, yellow flashing slip, wood fired to cone 10 with gas reduction, 2022. 13 Andréa Keys Connell’s sculpture from the What Comes Down Must Go Up series, 36 in. (91 cm) in height, clay, Amaco LUG and Velvet underglazes, glaze, 2022. Photo: Andrew Caldwell.

14 Maria Valcheva’s Savage Garden, 9 in. (23 cm) in width, wheel-thrown Southern Ice porcelain, reliefs, drawings, fired to 2345°F (1285°C), 2021. 15 Julie Pennington’s Parched, 18 in. (46 cm) in height, handbuilt Feeney’s raku paper clay, fired to cone 6 in oxidation, 2020. Photo: Andrew Sikorsky.16 Mindy Horn’s History and Translation, 33 in. (84 cm) in height, porcelain, Mason stain, clear glaze, multiple firings to cone 6, painted wood panel. Courtesy of Todd Merrill Studio.17 Heidi Moller Somsen’s Erosion #2, 16 in. (41 cm) in height, mid-range stoneware, glazes, fired to cone 5 in oxidation, gold spray paint, 2020. 18 Alex Olson’s wood-fired yunomi, 5 in. (13 cm) in height, wheel-thrown and altered B-mix clay with grog, shino liner glaze, wood fired to cone 10 in reduction, 2021.19 Noel Bailey‘s Wave Teapot with Cornice Cup, to 7½ in. (19 cm) in height, porcelain, fired to cone 10 in reduction, 2022.20 Oliver Cain’s Fruit Bowl V, 19¾ in. (50 cm) in height, slip-cast ceramic. 20 Oliver Cain’s Fruit Bowl V (alternate view), 19¾ in. (50 cm) in height, slip-cast ceramic.

22 Michael Ware’s Mr. Before, 14 in. (36 cm) in height, colored porcelain, glaze, fired to cone 6 in oxidation, 2021. 23 Hitomi Shibata’s Seeing the Light Through the Clay Wall, 21 in. (53 cm) in height, handbuilt North Carolina local clay, local clay slips, red iron oxide, wood ash, thin clear glaze, wood fired to cone 11, 2022. Photo: Takuro Shibata.

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Topics: Ceramic Artists, Ceramic Sculpture, Functional Pottery
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