In this reading Tanya Harrod discusses the evolution of pottery in the United States and Britain in the past 150 years from a simple craft to a fine art. Many modernist painters used pots for explorations of surface design in 3D space. Artists such as Picasso took the art and craft of pottery seriously and had a respect for the process. Harrod then discusses the evolution of ceramics in the United States, looking at Alfred and Cranbrook. It is interesting that ceramics at Alfred has evolved from highly gendered craft to a widely accepted fine art in less than 100 years. The arts and crafts movement of the 60s help lift pottery from purely a humble craft to a fine art in its own right.


It is very exciting that artists today have combined the different aspects of clay (craft, art, design, engineering) into their artwork in different ways. As artists and potters today we must drawn on these different aspects and put them into our work.