Ceramic pieces and other three-dimensional forms interact with space in several ways. Once again an egg can serve as an example. This goose egg exists in, occupies, or takes up space. It fills the space in your hand. The space around a shape or form is called negative space.

The craftsperson who made this “egg basket” shows us two more ways that three-dimensional forms interact with space.

She carved a goose egg to form a basket that contains space -- here that space is filled with flower petals.

The egg basket’s perforated surface [surface with holes cut into it] also allows negative space to move in, out, and through the form, as the thread does in this photo.

Clay vessels also interact with space in several ways. Richard DeVore’s bowl occupies (exists in or takes up) space. Its smooth walls make a clear demarcation (edge) between the bowl and the negative space around it.

Richard DeVore, United States, 1992, stoneware, 5 1/4 x 11”, gift of Anne and Sam Davis, Arizona State university Art Museum

In addition, his bowl contains space in an interesting way with its space-within-space interior.

The vessel below by Don Schaumberg not only occupies and contains space, its undulating (bumpy) walls interact with the space that moves around it.

Photographs, such as those on this Website, never show us everything about a vessel. No photograph can show all its surfaces inside and out. In the dark, we can’t see a photograph at all, but we can still feel the surfaces of a ceramic vessel and heft its weight.

Imagine how thin the walls of Mary Scheier’s bowl must be to balance delicately on two finger tips.

We need to see ceramic artworks in person and even hold them in our hands, when that is possible, to fully appreciate how we and the artworks interact with each other and with space.

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