I have been looking at a group of bottles on our dining room table, each one from a different firing, each with a different focus on form and surface. On my studio docket today was to make a new series of bottles. I often think about still lives. I remember an interrupted conversation I once had with Gwyn Hanssen Pigot. We were at the Garth Clark Gallery in New York City and I asked her if all the pots in a single still life parade came from the same firing. I wondered if pots ever hung around her studio waiting for the right mates to come along as she composed her parades. Her Australian friend interrupted us–admonishing me as if I didn\u2019t understand how successful Gwyn was–so I never got to return to the conversation. Gwyn was inspired by Morandi\u2019s still lives. When I take photos I often think about his painterly universe of form and structure. I imagine him looking hard at his objects as if any extra effects had been scraped away, as if the emptiness of the canvas was filled through his objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over there’s the ur-photograph,![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.catherinewhite.com\/roughideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/09-summer-summit-21-1024x687.jpg\")
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Giorgio Morandi, glasses pushed up on his forehead,
Looking hard at four objects\u2014
Two olive oil tins, one wine bottle, one flower vase,
A universe of form and structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n