James F. McKinnell

American
(1919–2005)

Bottle
circa 1956-1957

Stoneware
15.5 x 10.25 x 10.25 in.
Museum Permanent Collection
1984.528

James McKinnell’s background in ceramic engineering made him one of the most influential innovators of ceramic technology in the twentieth century. Among the different types of kilns he developed, the portable double-chambered loose-brick kiln, fueled by propane, changed how studio potters worked, because of the way it could be adapted to the size and type of firing desired. McKinnell primarily produced functional stoneware vessels with a solid, busy quality, as visible in Bottle. He was heavily influenced by Japanese ceramics, applying this sensibility, and his scientific training, to explore clays, glazes, and ceramic equipment. McKinnell and his wife, Nan, were a strong duo, teaching and producing work all over the world and often collaborating on pieces, with one making the form and the other finishing it. Writer Michael Paglia coined the term “gypsy scholars” for the peripatetic pair, who spent much of their lives traveling the globe, teaching the art of ceramics. Their common signature is “McKinnell.”

James (Jim) McKinnell was born in Nitro, West Virginia, and shortly thereafter his family moved to Seattle. He studied ceramic engineering for his 1941 BS and 1947 MS degrees at the University of Washington, where he met his wife Nan during a slip-casting seminar led by Swiss artist Paul Bonifas. In the Navy, Jim was stationed in Hawaii during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After the war the couple used his GI Bill money to study in France, England, and Scotland. They married in 1948 in Baltimore, and moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 1951. They set up a pottery studio and taught at the University of Colorado, but often packed a portable kiln and lived in a trailer while they drove from place to place with their daughter and several dogs. From 1952 until 1970 McKinnell was an engineer for the Boeing Company in Seattle. From 1973 to 1987 Nan and Jim taught at Loretto Heights College in Denver, and Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Their work is nationally and internationally known. They were inducted into the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 1988.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

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This object has the following keywords:

• bottles
• brown
• Geometric patterns - Sources:
  - Work cat.: Incised geometrical designs on the Fatehpur Sikri hammams, near Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, 1965-2000, via University of Washington digital collections, International Collections, June 9, 2020.
  - Art & architecture thesaurus online, June 9, 2020: (geometric patterns. UF designs, geometric; geometrical designs; geometrical ornament; geometrical patterns; geometric designs; geometric ornament; ornament, geometric; patterns, geometric. Hierarchical position: - patterns (design elements) - design elements (attributes) Design Elements (hierarchy name))
  - 70 ways to create amazing geometric designs and patterns, via Design Wizard website, June 9, 2020
  - Wikipedia, June 9, 2020:
  - Artlandia glossary of pattern design, via WWW, June 9, 2020
• tan

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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