Amazing Mid Century vase by well listed artist Bennett Bean (b,1941). Size: 14 5/8", D 6 1/2". Bennett Bean grew up in Iowa City and attended Grinnell College in Grinnell Iowa before transferring to the State University of Iowa in Iowa City where he studied art, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from that institution in 1963. After a brief period of study at the University of Washington, he transferred to Claremont College Graduate School in Claremont, California where he studied ceramics under Paul Soldner. Bean was awarded the Master of Fine Arts from Claremont in 1966. Bean exhibits throughout the United States and in Canada. The numerous museums that have collected his work include the Detroit Institute of Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Whitney Museum of American Art. Artists like Bennett Bean began to emphasize pattern, color, and surface, as much as the vessel forms they created. A vessel such as this one is exceedingly complicated in its decoration. From forming to burnishing, firing, painting, partially glazing, and pit-firing to create the smoky black effect at the rim Beans entire process for one such vase might require as many as 20 steps from start to finish. By 1982, the date of this vessel, Bean was using acrylic paint and the narrowest graphic tape possible to render the red lines, diamonds, and blue trapezoids, which finish the overall design. As a general rule, only unglazed areas, left by a wax resist, are painted. This does not hold, however, if more is needed to fully articulate the play between organic and geometric elements. The artist says, I am not making pieces about use, volume, tactility, narrative. My pieces since 1980 are specifically about decorated surfaces outside and space inside. ~~.Detailed condition reports are not included in this catalog. For additional information, including condition reports, please contact us at info@sofedesignauctions.com