Themes
Vanderkooi’s intention for this pot, along with her other pots, is for daily rituals, particularly rituals involving food and flowers. Although its function today would probably be for holding food or flowers in someone’s home, this pot could truly be used for carrying water. In ancient Japanese culture, water carriers held a long pole over their shoulder. On that pole there were two water buckets on each side. There were so many day-to-day activities and rituals that this system was integral to the society’s survival. The water carrier demonstrates the need for simple rituals in a society that is becoming eternally complicated.
The water carrier originated from a lumpy gray hunk of clay. Vanderkooi sat over the potter’s wheel, shaping it, adding water and pumping the pedal with her foot until it was absolutely perfect. After she fired it in the kiln, she decorated it by hand, using intricate and precise movements. She fired her assistant and works on her own, allowing for the water carrier to create a special connection between the potter, the earth and the owner of the piece, a concept that is particularly valuable in today’s ever-moving society.
