One of my most prized possessions is a small 6” blue stoneware vase from Pond Farm ceramic artist Marguerite Wildenhain. I got it at an estate sale for $10, but the first time I had seen it was when my neighbor, David, brought it by my studio to show me. He was a bit of a recluse, but over the years we slowly became friends talking through the fence. When he found out I worked with clay and sold pottery, he brought over this famous little pot to show me and let me live with it for a week or two. David thought I might learn something and wanted me to spend some time with its proportion, shape and color. His mother, Georgina, was gifted this little vase by Marguerite herself, likely in the late 50’s early 60’s. They both spoke german, and from what I could glean from David, they were friendly and likely felt like home to one another.
If you don’t know who Marguerite Wildenhain is, you should! I first heard of her name and Pond Farm Pottery when I first moved to Sonoma county in 2018, 60 miles north of San Francisco. Upon knowing I worked with clay, folks from the area would ask if I knew of Pond Farm. I was dumbfounded that I hadn’t heard of this women who was a Bauhaus trained master potter. She worked alongside Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, had a close correspondence with Walter Gropius and was friends with Ruth Asawa, Albert Lanier, Jean Varda. All names I knew well and had studied from art and architecture school but unfortunately had never heard of Wildenhain.
Little by little, her name and work are becoming more known. In 2023, Pond Farm Pottery was designated a National Historic Landmark, a big win for the stewards who’ve been preserving her legacy. If you live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend you sign up for one of the docent-led tours of her studio and workshop which is located in what is now called Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.
She has a long and storied history, and ultimately ended up out west after escaping the nazis. After a short time teaching at Black Mountain College and CCAC, she eventually settled in Guerneville, CA (just a 20 minute drive from where I live) and created a disciplined summer program alongside her rigorous studio practice. I won’t go into too much detail about her life because there are better resources out there, but what I do want to share is how inspiring her life and unyielding work ethic is. Through so much upheaval and tragedy, she continued to create and teach and make wonderful work at the highest level.
Images sprinkled throughout this post are from a two hour tour I took a few years back at Pond Farm. I was most inspired by the landscape, the broken bits of ceramics embedded in the ground and the teaching environment she created. Surrounded by redwood and oak trees, I can imagine her tending to her garden, throwing pots, loading the kiln, reclaiming clay, all the while being closely connected to every bit of nature, documenting blades of grass and decaying flowers.
Every summer for three decades, Marguerite hosted and taught a small group of students at Pond Farm which became known as one of the most influential and intensive pottery schools in the US. You’ll notice below an image of “Pottery form Throwing Steps”. As a student, you weren’t allowed to move on until you mastered the first step. Some students never made it past a “dog dish”, but many did. I love that a “bowl” is very last on this list. Making a bowl on the potter’s wheel is hard, making a big bowl is even harder. It’s nice to be reminded of the gradual progression I’ve taken over the years. You can’t rush the process and some days I honestly feel like I’m still in these early stages. There’s a lot I still don’t know how to do, but you can’t move forward until you practice hundreds and hundreds of time.
When my neighbor passed away, they held an estate sale and I knew I needed to get that vase. Not because it could become a valued item, but it had so much meaning of kindness and remembrance for me. If his death hadn’t been so sudden, I knew he would have wanted me to have it. I lined up early at the estate sale and made a bee line for the living room as I scanned for this blue piece of pottery. It has a couple little dings and doesn’t sit entirely flat, but I cherish it. I fill it with flowers regularly and hold it in my hands. Occasionally, I bring it down to my garage studio for a change of scenery.
I’ve had the vase in my own home now for almost a year. One day while making a bouquet for my MW vase, I decided to make a small series of vases influenced by Wildenhain’s creation. I did not want to replicate it, but wanted to see what a blue collared vase of mine would look like. So I experimented and made seven unique vases. They are small and sweet and a bit different than what I typically make. The color blue is not something that finds itself within my work, but this was a good jumping off point for me to try something new while being intentional. I rarely collar in pots but it was fun to switch things up one morning while throwing on the wheel. I’m considering making this an ongoing series with some varied heights in bluish glaze combinations.
When I think about what inspires me from this special place, it’s not a particular piece of pottery or a single quote, but it’s the whole way of living and working. Visiting Pond Farm has shifted my own perspective on what my practice could look like. As I keep pushing the craft of clay forward in my own way, struggling to make a living, it’s given me a renewed sense of freshness on what I can accomplish. There’s so much to glean from teaching and that was a powerful reminder. At the age of 43, I have so much more to discover. Even though I’ve been doing this ceramics thing for over a decade now, I’m actually still very much in the early days and that feels invigorating.
For those interested, here’s a list of resources and books for a more in depth look into Marguerite Wildenhain’s life and work:
30 minute documentary film: From Bauhaus to Pond Farm
Marguerite Wildenhain and the Bauhaus: An Eyewitness Anthology
Marguerite Wildenhain: A Diary to Franz
Take a tour! Next one is August 15th and September 19th
Grounded in play, Clayfulness is a newsletter exploring what it means to be a small business with transparency. This is a place where you’ll find failures and victories from my studio practice, how I stay motivated and when I’m not. This is more than a monthly word exercise for myself, but a space to understand what this little business is and where it wants to go. I call it Clayfulness because clay is the background of my life, but there’s also more. My life is full of other endeavors and being playful is one of my core principles in everything I do.
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Really enjoyed your post and the documentary. We have known for a long time how close we live to Pond Farm, and we must go!
This was most certainly an ode. Wow! I learned so much in this post…. Marguerite Wildenhain and your influences and process. I read all of your posts here and enjoy them all and this one really spoke to me. I love how you share your artistry and how you evolve and I feel so fortunate to witness your craft and own some of your pieces. Make those vases, lady! I’m in.