Rare 1979 Scott McDowell Ceramic Covered Bowl Studio Art Pottery

A few weeks back I was browsing around in a local shop when I come across this rare covered ceramic bowl made by award winning pottery artist & gay rights activist Scott McDowell (1948 - 92), made in 1979.

Unfortunately the bowl is unsigned, however, inside it was a hand written card that identified it as being made by Scott McDowell in Seattle, Washington, 1979. 

The piece has been confirmed as made by Scott McDowell by his sister Kim who maintains a Facebook group showcasing Scott's works and life, which includes the following description of Scott.

Scott Andrew McDowell (1948-1992) was a talented ceramic artist and gay rights activist whose life was cut short by AIDS. He was born and raised in Tacoma, WA and graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in both Ceramics and Microbiology. Scott operated showrooms in storefront studios in New York City and Seattle's Pioneer Square. His clients included many fine craft galleries and stores such as Neiman-Marcus, Barneys New York, and Henri Bendel.

When I saw this piece, I immediately loved it,  and wanted to buy it, however, it was rather expensive for me, so, I was about to put it back on the shelf, but then my good friend who was with me took it from me and said that she will buy it for me as a gift.     It has since then been my favorite studio pottery / art pottery piece in my collection.

Gas Reduction Fired Tenmoku Glaze Studio Pottery Saucer

It's been quite some time since I've posted and although I have several more pieces to add and continue to periodically add more pieces to my collection, I just haven't been posting for various reasons which I won't get into here.

  Since I was going through my studio pottery collection today trying to identify pieces as well as weeding out the junk, I decided to take photographs of this beautiful Tenmoku glaze saucer and ask other collectors in the Studio Pottery Collectors Group for identification assistance since at the time I posted, didn't know what kind of glaze it is, etc.and I wanted to know more about this little plate because I really like the color , style, texture and design, etc.  It is one of my favorite pieces.

 So, after posting there and asking for help, I am told that it's gas reduction fired white stoneware with a basic Tenmoku glaze.  I love this little plate and hope to find a Chawan to match it.

Studio Art Pottery Stoneware Bowl by Marty Morgan

   I was just going through my studio pottery collection while organizing my cabinets, etc, so I decided to post about this bowl I picked up a couple weeks ago at a local thrift shop.

I love it when I get an identifiable piece, and I was able to get confirmation from the artisan potter her self that crafted this beautiful bowl a few years ago, Marty Morgan, whose studio is located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, which is only a couple towns North of me.

I was told by Ms Morgan that this stoneware bowl was made of cone 10 stoneware, fired in a gas kiln, and glazed with a Rutile blue over a glossy white glaze creating the lighter blue overlap color over the orange/brown, etc..