Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy

The Newark Museum's curator of decorative arts celebrates stellar ceramics in this catalogue for the museum's February-June 2003 exhibition. The book, Dietz quickly assures his readers, is neither ""about art"" nor a ""chronological history of studio ceramics""; rather, it is dedicated to exploring ""what makes great pots,"" from pots as canvas to pots as sculpture, and from pots that are paragons of form to those that are models of function. He divides his thoughtful analysis into three sections-""The Beautiful Pot,"" ""The Useful Pot"" and ""The Wise Pot""-each amply illustrated with lush photographs. Featured items, which range from the minimalist and almost primitive to the artful and baroque, include a 1959 pot by a Short Hills, N.J., woman who decorated her piece with a design ""inspired by a pattern left on a window after her dog licked it"" (and for which the museum paid $12); a teapot in the shape of an ampersand that ""pays serious homage"" to old world ceramics while boasting a ""whimsical, even kitschy approach to design""; and a hand-built stoneware piece depicting an embracing family that looks more like sculpture-or a 3-D line drawing-than traditional pottery. Museum director Mary Sue Sweeney Price notes in her foreword that the Newark Museum's curators have long acquired what some might deem commonplace objects, believing that it is these items that show the interactions between people and ""material culture,"" while ceramics aficionados Garth Clark and Mark Del Veccio ponder ""pot madness"" in a pleasant introduction. This careful volume is a deserving labor of both love and intelligence. (Feb.)