This urn does not simply reflect light. It transforms it. Raku-fired and post-firing reduction glazed, this wheel-thrown vessel by Kathy Cady achieves one of the most visually arresting surfaces in all of ceramic art: a fully iridescent metallic lustre that shifts and shimmers with every change of angle and illumination, cycling through deep burgundy and copper, then suddenly blazing with spectral flashes of electric blue, violet, and rainbow interference color, like oil on dark water or the inner surface of an abalone shell.
The body of the vessel is wrapped in the warm horizontal memory of the throwing process, subtle ribbing from Cady’s hands still faintly visible beneath the metallic surface, a reminder that this otherworldly object was shaped by touch. Against the deep copper-red ground, pale smoke markings drift and branch in organic, unpredictable patterns, carbon drawn into the unglazed clay during the reduction chamber phase of raku firing. No two raku pieces ever carry the same marks. These belong only to this urn.
The fitted disc lid presents a darker, more uniformly gunmetal surface, its deep charcoal and peacock sheen a striking contrast to the warmer, more complex body below, as though lid and vessel each captured a different moment in the flame. The seam between them is a quiet drama.
At the crown, a raw titanium-coated druzy mineral cluster rises in jagged points of iridescent blue, purple, and silver, its artificial rainbow enhancement intentionally chosen to echo and amplify the natural iridescence of the raku surface below. The conversation between them is electric.
Bold, transformative, and utterly unlike anything else.