Bunchberry and Starflower Cup

Tim Christensen

Bunchberry and Starflower Sgrafitto porcelain ceramic cup by Tim Christensen Environmental Art Midcoast Maine Artisan Store The Good Supply Pemaquid Made in USA
  • Bunchberry and Starflower Sgrafitto porcelain ceramic cup by Tim Christensen Environmental Art Midcoast Maine Artisan Store The Good Supply Pemaquid Made in USA
  • Bunchberry and Starflower Sgrafitto porcelain ceramic cup by Tim Christensen Environmental Art Midcoast Maine Artisan Store The Good Supply Pemaquid Made in USA
  • $165.00

The Maine woods in high summer is oh-so-good! The light dappled through tall pines and maple trees, mellifluous bird chatter, and the accompanying rocks and roots carpeted with deep moss are beauty itself. It’s almost blissful enough to make one forget about the constant mosquitos. 

Tucked along the verdant forest floor, the bright bunchberries command abundant attention. Early summer brings the bright white star-shaped flower. After the pollinators have had their fun, the beautiful plant's stoplight red berries emerge glowing crimson against the rich green of their surroundings. It’s best to leave them for the birds as they are not the tastiest berry around.

Let us toast to summer in Maine, to birdsong, to the stars above and below, and to the careful act of noticing.

- Measures 3.5” x 4.25”
- Wood fired porcelain
- Sgraffito
- Wash by hand

Ceramic artist Tim Christensen divides his time between Portland and Downeast Maine. At his off-grid studio Tim finds inspiration for his porcelain pieces. Schools of herring, flocks of chattering songbirds, and all matter of sea life are skillfully carved on the surfaces of his hand-thrown and constructed forms.

Tim began working in clay in 1999, and he has been etching his black and white pieces since 2004. Using the centuries-old decorative technique of Sgraffito, Tim carves intricate worlds teeming with life and energy. Firing much of his work at Watershed Center for Ceramic Art in Newcastle, Maine, Tim finds that the collaborative Midcoast institution's salt and wood-fire kilns add variety and allow for the possibility of happy accidents, which are common in the ceramic world and offer welcome play on the artist's meticulous carvings.

Tim has shown his work around the world and recently completed his first book. Written with co-author Carri Lange, “Reflect, Adapt, and Persevere” he tells of his travels and thoughts on environmental philosophy.

From the Artist:

My work is about the ever-changing web of relationships that surround us. Individuals make contact to create relationships, relationships collide to create systems. These systems change over time in response to the other systems around them. I envision my world as an infinite collection of active counterparts, individuals symbiotically wriggling and moving and jostling for space and resources.

In this sea of systems, of relationships, I sit and try to untangle it, sit and try to communicate what I see changing, being created, or disappearing into the past.

This is why I work in our most durable medium, porcelain, and in our longest unbroken historical record, pottery. My work, functional in the information I convey, will be understandable to anyone with an eyeball and the ability to think abstractly.

My goal is to make work which still speaks clearly in 10,000 years, and more importantly, to convey the complexity and richness of the world in which I am most fortunate to live.

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