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| New Books
Studio Pottery
by Oliver Watson
 This beautifully illustrated book is the definitive catalog of the national collection of studio pottery in Britain. Organized in the form of a biographical dictionary, Studio Pottery: Twentieth Century British Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection contains an introductory essay by Oliver Watson, Head of the Ceramics Department at the V&A from 1989–2001, that places the studio pottery movement into its proper historical context.
“The task of developing a history of studio pottery is just beginning,” says Watson. “The aim of this present catalog is to make the basic documentation of the Museum’s collections more easily available in the hope that it may encourage a more historical analysis of the subject; it does not pretend to be a history. The following sections are intended to air some of the issues that will underlie any history that may be written in the future. These discussions, inevitably somewhat idiosyncratic and personal, are set out as a number of separate topics, and aim to put into context the individual life stories that are outlined in the biographies in the catalog proper.”
288 pages. 120 color photographs. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-7148-2948-7. Published by Phaidon Press Inc., 180 Varick St., New York, NY 10014; www.phaidon.com; or tel (212) 652-5410.
Extruder, Mold and Tile: Forming Techniques
edited by Anderson Turner
 A recent addition to the Ceramic Arts Handbook series, Extruder, Mold and Tile covers a wide range of information, techniques and inspiration for both functional and sculptural projects. Carefully selected from Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated articles, the book presents advice and inspiration from twenty-six artists.
“The pages of this book include artists that explore extruders, molds and tiles,” states Turner in the preface. “However, they do not rely on store bought tools and plaster. Too often, I feel, we look to plaster when a piece of bisqueware or something bought at a garage sale will do as good a job, if not better. Further, while it is most likely cheaper to purchase an extruder, making accessories so that the extruder can do unique things is part of the creative, entrepreneurial and inventive nature of clay artists.”
135 pages. 261 color photographs. $29.95. ISBN 978-1-57498-291-6. Published by The American Ceramic Society, 600 N. Cleveland Ave., Ste. 210, Westerville, OH 43082; www.ceramicartsdaily.org/books.
Marguerite Wildenhain and the Bauhaus
edited by Dean and Geraldine Schwarz
 This massive book provides an in-depth look at the life of potter Marguerite Wildenhain. Comprised of hundreds of images, dozens of essays, interviews and writings from memoirs, diaries and letters, the book is a copious archive of resources, many of which are published here for the first time.
“[Marguerite] believed that nature is the greatest teacher, and that art cannot be achieved without technique—nor with technique alone,” states Dean Schwarz in the foreword. “As an artist, master potter, author and teacher, Marguerite lived her life according to her ideals. This made her a model of and for humanitarian excellence.”
Having studied at the Weimar Bauhaus for five years, Wildenhain left the school in 1926 with the designation Master Potter. After she was dismissed from a teaching job for being Jewish, Wildenhain left Germany and established a pottery studio with her husband, Franz Wildenhain, in Holland. She immigrated to America in advance of the Nazis invasion of Holland and eventually joined an artist’s community called Pond Farm in northern California. In her later years, she continued to produce work, ran her own pottery school, published three books and lectured throughout the U.S., gaining a reputation as an influential teacher and artist.
767 pages. Hardcover, $75. ISBN 978-0-9761381-2-9. Published by South Bear Press, 2248 S. Bear Rd., Decorah, IA 52101; www.southbearpress.org.
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