Oyster Bar
Design July 29th, 2010
Ceramicist Alison Evans was born in New York but spent summers in East Boothbay, Maine, where, she says, she was “inspired to create functional pieces that will bring back memories of the ocean.”
Her pieces—platters, bowls, vases, teapots—are indeed functional but they are also beautiful, the work of an artist at the top of her game. After high school in London, Alison studied ceramics at Textura, a small but renowned artists’ commune in Gijon, Spain, and continued her education at the Rhode Island School of Design, from which she graduated. She apprenticed in Manhattan for three years before returning to the coastal town of her youth, where she currently keeps a studio and gallery.
The ocean is just a few feet from her door and its bounty is wonderfully translated in her work. Sea urchins become bowls, barnacles become candlesticks, clam shells are vases. Especially versatile are her oyster shell platters and bowls. Imagine the white platter piled high with peeled shrimp or crudite and a matching footed bowl with dipping sauce in the center or nearby.
Each piece is hand molded and hand glazed, and, therefore, unique—just like the forms that inspired them.
Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Alison Evans in her Maine studio; sea urchin bowl in abalone and tortoise, oyster platters in porcelain white, and oyster bowl in abalone and tortoise, all available at Digs.
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Elusive Find: Oysterman
