Tall Vessel

Paula Winokur

Porcelain

26.5 in H x 8.5 in x 6.5 in

Inscribed Signature

This exquisite porcelain work offers an early glimpse into Paula Winokur's lifelong exploration of the Earth's changing landscapes, a theme that would come to define her celebrated career.

Cloaked in a delicate celadon glaze, the pristine porcelain form evokes both beauty and fragility. Winokur pressed lace into the wet clay to create impressions of intricate floral motifs. The use of lace was a reference to Feminist Art and its critique of the subjugation of women's work. The decorative pattern contrasted with the monumentality of the vessel reflect Winokur's enduring interest in the importance of feminism as a subject in the art world.

Artist Statement

My work has been influenced by information gathered at places in the natural environment that I have responded to visually. The earth itself particularly cliffs, ledges, crevices, and canyons: the effects of wind, earthquakes, glaciers and natural phenomena such as geological shifts and faults interest me. The works are abstractions of what I have seen in my travels and some are informed by information gathered in various locations. For example the knowledge that icebergs float with 2/3 of their mass below the water and only the 'tip" showing above. "Black Ice" refers to a past oil spill off the coast of Alaska. It is not my intention to create literal images of what I remember but rather to present to the viewer the ideas lurking in my memory.

Artist Biography

Paula Colton Winokur (1936-2018) was an American artist. She was one of the leading ceramic artists in the United States from the 1970s until her death. Paula was born and raised in Philadelphia. She attended Tyler School of Art, where she was a student of Rudolf Staffel. Paula was a pioneer in several aspects of our clay community. Her work in porcelain was groundbreaking in its emphasis on the strength and robustness of the material, rather than the traditional emphasis on its delicacy. After being told that as a wife and mother she did not deserve a full-time teaching position, Paula went on to lead the ceramics program at Arcadia University, becoming a mentor to countless young women as she gained well-deserved status in the field.

In the last decades of her career she turned her artistic attention to environmental issues, using her beautiful sculptures to bring attention to global warming and the melting of the world's icebergs. Notable were the monumental, jagged, and nuanced works shaped from huge slabs of porcelain that serve as metaphors for the glaciers and icebergs she saw on her travels in Iceland and Greenland. The clarity of her vision and the intuitive handling of her material are tactile reminders of our eroding environment.

In 2002 she was elected to the College of Fellows at the American Craft Council. She has exhibited widely and has been collected by museums around the world - notably the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art.

This piece was donated by the Family of Marge and Phil Kalodner.

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