Henry Mead

American
(1928–2018)

Lidded Tureen
1965

Stoneware
16.5 x 14.75 x 14.75 in.
Museum Purchase with the Charter Member Endowment Fund
2000.26

Lidded Tureen is a deep, round, wheel-thrown dish with a softly curved lid that sits atop the form on a tightly fitting flange. The simple shape of the pot, as well as the lug handles on the sides and the loop handle on the lid, possess a quiet refinement that speaks to the utility of the piece as a serving dish. The unadorned surface is covered in a Shino glaze with a high feldspar content, a treatment originally formulated in Japan. The glaze has been applied in various thicknesses, allowing the soft red color of the clay body to discolor the white glaze in some places, and to show through where the application is thinnest.

Born in 1928, Henry Mead spent much of his career as a potter and educator living in Denver and Carbondale, Colorado. He received a master’s degree in ceramic design and quickly established his own studio just west of Castle Rock, Colorado, in 1964. The studio’s location had a significant impact on his aesthetic, as the local clay, a fine yellow powder that turns a soft red when fired to stoneware temperatures, yielded a particular color palette with various glazes. Mead taught ceramics at Temple Buell College, special classes for the Colorado Potters Guild, and was chairman of the Colorado Artist-Craftsmen until he moved to Pasadena, California, in the early 1990s. There he continued to collaborate with his partner and fellow artist Joyce Newman until his death in 2018.

Ayla Murray

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This object has the following keywords:

• red

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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