Customer Reviews

Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Life and Art of Beatrice Wood

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4 star:		(1)
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THE GILTED VESSEL is a beautiful book about an amazing woman and potter. Her life is more wonderful than any fiction and her pottery is exquisite. The only flaw is that it is too short; I want more.

As a biography of Beatrice Wood's life and work, this volume is both interesting and well written. And Wood's glazes are unique in many cases, but the quality of her pottery itself (the thrown pieces) is simply sub-par!

I notice that the author commented about a time in Wood's life when she worked as an apprentice to Otto and Gertrud Natzler, and that they apparently asked her to leave, because she was becoming competitive with them. This is hard to believe, because Ms. Wood's clay work (the design and execution of the ceramic pieces themselves) is just not of that high a quality. She was clearly not "competitive" with Gertrud Natzler's clay work, nor was she competitive with Otto Natzler's glaze skills.

I bought this for a very good friend of mine and she just loves the book. She met Beatrice once as both of us lived in Ojai, CA where Beatrice lived for many years. We have been to her house also. My friend just loved her and her particular style of art.

Sincerely, Terry W. Chaffee