WILLEM online GEBBEN Black Slip Casserole w. Lid, Soup Tureen, Cookie Jar, Urn, Decorative Pottery Container Traditional Stoneware Microwave Safe!

Willem Gebben makes traditional wood-fired stoneware and porcelain at his studio, HILLCREST POTTERY, in rural Wisconsin. The beautiful handmade pottery is not only useful, it also adds to the beauty of the home and enhances creativity in the daily routines of cooking, health, and dining.

This Pottery Casserole with lid (a low domed cover with handle) could also be used as a Cookie Jar, a Decorative Container, an Urn, a Soup or Stew Tureen, or as a Cooking/Baking Pot as it is Microwave and Oven Safe. It is Black Slip with Silver & Brown Highlights (depending on the light source) and has a speckled light interior. Because It is Wood-Fired Stoneware, it can be used for holding hot soups or other liquids and also for cooking such as a large amount of vegetables or even leftovers. It is approx. 9 inches wide and 8 inches high and can hold over 9 cups with an interior depth of 6 inches. The base diameter is 5 inches and the lid diameter is 6 inches. This Black Slip Pottery Jar is additionally a beautiful container for any personal treasures or mementos. It would look lovely on an office bookshelf, a kitchen shelf, or a table. Note: This is marked with Willem Gebben's Unique Identifying Mark for his Hillcrest Pottery.

All of Willem Gebben's pottery are made using techniques that are thousands of years old. They are formed by hand on a foot-powered wheel and individually glazed, loaded into the kiln, and fired. Because of these processes, each pot is unique - no two are exactly alike. Also, none of the pots contain lead, and they are dishwasher safe and ideal for the oven and microwave.

SHIPPING:
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Willem Gebben is a traditional potter making functional pots. Born in Delft, the Netherlands, he received his BS degree from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, and in 1976 apprenticed with master potter David Eeles at Shepherds Well Pottery in Mosterton, Dorset, England.

Gebben's impressive work is included in private collections throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Japan. Also, Gebben is part of the Western Wisconsin Pottery Tour, an annual fall tour of Wisconsin ceramic artists' studios.

His wood-fired stoneware and porcelain pots have been featured in numerous periodicals, books such as THE ART OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POTTERY (Krause Publications) and WOOD-FIRED CERAMICS - CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES (University of Pennsylvania Press), and also television shows. Public collections of his work include Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND; University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN; Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI; The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI; and the United States Embassy, Tokyo, Japan.

The main emphasis of Gebben is to create a wide variety of wood-fired functional pottery. Using techniques that are thousands of years old, Willem mixes and dries the clay himself, then forms each piece by hand on a foot-powered wheel, applying home-made glazes before firing the new pots in wood-burning kilns. It takes 18 hours to achieve a temperature of 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit; then the pottery creations are allowed to slowly cool.

Gebben's sure sense of form and expert handling of surface, texture, and detailing make each piece a true work of art. His pottery consists of Once-fired online, Wood-fired, and Salt-Glazed Stoneware as well as Porcelain.

You can view examples of his work in the "Gallery" Section under the heading "Ceramics" on Portal.Wisconsin, (www.portalwisconsin.org) an online gallery to promote the arts in Wisconsin. Also, you can watch a YouTube video of Willem Gebben at work (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgb-OsYvVS0).

ARTIST STATEMENT:
“It is important for me to work within the traditional role of potter;
making pots that are meant to be used.
It is this aspect of craft that separates it from the other arts,
such as painting or sculpture. It is through the elements of touch and use
that the communication between the object and the user occurs.

I am also very interested in form,
which in large part is what the art of pottery is about;
the tactile qualities, the weight, how the pots feel in the hand.

In this age of increasing dependence on machine-made things
and the worship of technology,
I think it is essential that handmade objects are still made
and used as a way for us to communicate with each other.”