Family Gathering — Little Pete Meadow
©️Vicki Gunter- clay, glaze, stains, wire, antique spoon – 2 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches
This cup is made entirely of clay into faux granite. The blueberry stems and handle are hand-worked wire. The plinth is an actual granite stone.
Inspired by its no-waste complexity, nature is my source and my anchor, in wild places and at home in East Oakland. My work draws from the knowledge that everything comes from the earth and the hope that we will seek solutions to gather, love and consume leaving the smallest fingerprint.
For me, Sierra cups symbolize Family Gatherings.
At the magical age of nine, 1959, my parents put an old wooden pack frame on my back, hung a metal Sierra cup on my rope belt and we “hit the trail”. I discovered the earth could sustain me and I could survive in it with little more than a spoon, a cup, dried apples, jerky and a family’s warmth. It was hard work, but so worth it, not only because of the extraordinary beauty — we were experiencing our life source.
At Little Pete Meadow we discovered we were gifted with Huckleberries. We filled our cups! We mixed them with Bisquick, making 1 giant Huckleberry biscuit over our campfire. My father carried a small cast-iron skillet for this purpose. Yes, crazy. But oh, Huckleberries, one of our simple native delights that stirs us to defend what we stand on! I feel an urgency to create art in this revolutionary time. I value clay’s infinite potential− mirroring our own.
As a native of California, the clay state, I love turning clay to stone. This little cup is made of reclaimed clay into faux granite with found: hand-worked wire stems and handle, vintage spoon, Granite stone plinth found in the Sierras.
