This outdoor pit-fired ceramic pot was created by Joanne Snyder, and given as a gift to her friend Adrienne Jacoby.
This is a story of two friends, and a small ceramic, hand-thrown, pit-fired pot with lid. It was created by Joanne Lobeski Snyder, long before the Carr Fire, in a primitive Japanese-style of firing clay in the ground where the temperatures reach about 1800 degrees before the artist removes the vessel and sets pieces of horse hair upon it, which turns to carbon and embeds an image onto the clay for a design unique to each piece of pottery.
That’s the technique artist and ANC subscriber and Photo Cafe contributor Joanne Lobeski Snyder used to create this piece, which is 3.75 inches wide and 4.5 inches tall, and features a perfectly fitted companion lid. Like looking for inspiration in cloud formations, it’s possible to see images in the clay. (I see a woman with long flowing hair riding a bison. How about you?)
Joanne, whose Shasta home was lost in the Carr Fire, also lost much of her art work, including ceramics, in the fire.
But her friend AJ — also an ANC subscriber and contributor (“Just Sayin'”) — had one of Joanne’s ceramic pieces, one that was given to AJ from Joanne as a gift many years ago. AJ thought that this piece, created with the aid of fire, by someone who lost her home in the Carr Fire, seemed the perfect, if not ironic, auction item. With Joanne’s blessing, AJ donated this special art piece to ANC’s online auction.
Thank you, Adrienne Jacoby, for parting with this piece, made by your friend.
Thank you, Joanne Snyder, for creating this lovely artwork that was made strong and beautiful by fire.
Value: $70
Opening bid: $50
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Click here to see the other auction items.
About Joanne Lobeski Snyder
Joanne Lobeski Snyder
Joanne Lobeski Snyder made her living as a north-state high-school math teacher, but has always been interested in learning about and creating art. She started working with clay that she found along the banks of the creek that ran behind her family home where she grew up. Her sun-dried work would last the summer and then be washed away by the fall rains.
Later, after she had learned to throw on the wheel, she started investigating pit firing ceramics. She and her friend Ann Myers spent a couple of years coming up with a method of successfully firing pieces in a combination pit and bon fire. The method often produced beautiful results that would not be possible in a kiln.
Joanne earned a B.A. in art with an emphasis in sculpture from Cal Poly University at Pomona where she was able to work in a foundry. She earned teaching credentials in art and math. She studied sculpture at Humboldt University with Stephen Daly, and recently took pottery classes with Michael Bliven at Shasta College before his retirement. She is currently enrolled in a Shasta College print-making class with John Harper.
Click here for ANC posts by Joanne Lobeski Snyder.
About Adrienne Jacoby
Adrienne Jacoby
Adrienne Jacoby is a 40-plus-year resident of Shasta County and native-born Californian. She was a teacher of vocal music in the Enterprise Schools for 27 years and has been retired for 11 years. A musician all her life, she was married to the late Bill Jacoby with whom she formed a locally well -known musical group who prided themselves in playing for weddings, wakes, riots, bar mitzvas and super market openings. And, oh yes … she has two children, J’Anna and Jayson.
