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A benefit retrospective will be held Saturday for Fredericksburg potter Phil Chapman, who recently was diagnosed with ALS Date published: 1/5/2006
By KATHRYN WILLIS For THE FREE LANCE-STAR Fredericksburg potter Phil Chapman lifts a more-than-3-feet-high pot from its protective box on the floor of his Sophia Street studio. As the artisan places this commanding piece onto a worktable, the pot's heft and solidity are evident. Despite this vase's formidable height, there is no imminent fear of tipping or tumbling: It's a sturdy piece, solidly grounded. Geometric details are pressed into its assertive base and lid, contributing to a "no-nonsense" straightforwardness. There is a self-assured confidence here. This pot has presence. Yet there is also delicacy and grace. A long, curving edge shapes the vessel with a line suggestive of wind-blown silk. Fine cracks texturize its surface, creating understated visual interest with their delicate dance. Even the glazings, as they slide from hues of gray-coffee to an even more neutral gray-tan, declare a nuanced differentiation. Like all good art, Chapman's pots reveal an intuitive sense of balance in these elements. Tension and release, weight and delicacy, flowing line and geometric closure they're all present here. Here, and in numerous award-winning vases, pots, boxes and mugs, in myriad collections from Maine to Florida. What is it that makes this pottery rise above the honorable status of craft? What makes it art? It is the sum of unique details that marks Chapman's work as his alone. Inimitable. The work of a minor master. He is a firm believer in shaping new and useful things from what has been given. It's a philosophy that he and his wife and fellow potter, Trista Chapman, hope to apply to his recent diagnosis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease)--a life-threatening condition that the couple hopes to fend off, or even to defeat. Paying the billsCoffee-drinking students, serious collectors and art lovers of monetary means between the two extremes have the financial wherewithal to acquire one of Chapman's works. One of his aims is to make his pieces affordable. He will tell you that the goal is to sell the stuff, because he's a crafter who earns his living exclusively from sales of his work. He'll tell you this, wearing a comfortable flannel shirt that has a light covering of dust. The fine, gray-white powder is a byproduct of sanding his pieces.
Date published: 1/5/2006
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