Michael Gustavson "Change of Mind" Raku Ceramic, Abstract Crackle Glaze Vessel in Red and Navy, Bay Area California Art, Original 23 X 12 Inches, 2025

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A broad, low vessel swells like a river stone, its creamy crackled body painted with a large red leaf, a … Read more A broad, low vessel swells like a river stone, its creamy crackled body painted with a large red leaf, a teal almond, a navy crescent and a golden-yellow wing. The shapes are separated by thin pale lines, as in a Miró composition, and the shallow mouth opens to a glossy black interior. Below, a sandy, speckled foot with a few white drips grounds the color. The crackle in the glaze looks like fine map lines, and the signature is visible near the base. Gustavson wheel-throws his vessels and then stretches them by hand, so the body has an easy asymmetry, wider than it is tall, with a slight tilt at the lip that suggests a figure turning.

A wide, low form like this reads well on a coffee table, a long console or a deep shelf, where its generous curve can be seen from above. The red and teal go with cream sofas, walnut and woven textures, and the pale body keeps it light against dark walls. Set on a pedestal or a plinth, it brings the weight of a painting to a corner.

Raku-fired glazed ceramic, 23 x 12 x 16 in (58.4 x 30.5 x 40.6 cm).

Gustavson fires his work in raku, the traditional Japanese process, which he has adapted over decades into his own method. For his large pieces he does not lift them from the kiln into combustible material; instead they stay in the kiln while pine needles are introduced at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere. Layered glazes, crackle, drips and fine drawn lines build luminous color, and he treats every form as a three-dimensional canvas.

Michael Gustavson is a ceramic artist based in Murphys, California, who has worked in clay for more than four decades. He earned his MFA from San Jose State University in 1980 and describes himself as a painter-sculptor, treating each form as a three-dimensional canvas and glaze as his paint. His work is held in private and public collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum and Eastman Kodak.

Building on the traditional Japanese process of raku, he developed his own firing approach, leaving large pieces in the kiln and introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create reduction. The method allows larger scale and unusually vivid color. His wheel-thrown, hand-stretched vessels suggest the figure in motion, his wall reliefs use fragmented slabs and negative space, and recent outdoor sculptures and benches carry his surfaces into tectonic forms, with nods to Miró, Kandinsky, Mondrian and Pollock. See less