Vessel

Charles Bound’s ceramics are gestural, rugged and loose. Here, incised lines and markings are illuminated by yellow slips that stain, sink into and crackle across the brown glaze of this simple form.

This vessel has been gas-fired unlike Bound’s later works which are wood-fired. For Bound, the journey towards wood-firing began in a gas kiln. He would scatter and layer ash and twigs directly onto pots, over glazes, which would burn during firing. [1] As a result the surface and form of this vessel is more controlled compared to his later wood-fired works (see 50726, 50727 and 50729).

Bound’s work is informed by the natural world and draws on rural landscapes. Bound first studied ceramics in 1983, setting up a studio whilst working as a college technician. He built his first wood-fired kiln in 1994 and has been using this process since. [2]

Sim Panaser, August 2020

[1] Charles Bound, ‘Fired Earth’, Ceramic Review, 224 (March/April 2007), 32-35, p. 33.

[2] <http://www.charlesbound.com/> [accessed 27 August 2020].