Byron Temple


 

 
Byron Temple, a major proponent of functional pottery and internationally recognized for his unpretentious wood-fired and salt-glazed pottery, died April 14, 2002 in Louisville, KY. He was 68.
 
Raised on a farm in Centerville, Indiana, Temple first studied pottery at Indiana's Ball State University. After a tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Germany, Byron returned to pottery at Haystack in Maine, studying under Kenneth Quick. Quick had worked with Bernard Leach in England, and Byron was inspired to study under Leach. He worked as a production potter in St. Ives from 1959 to 1962, and it was here that Byron really learned to throw. A period of working with Colin Pearson at the Quay Pottery Aylesford followed.
 
Byron returned to the United States and set up his own pottery in Lambertville, New Jersey, where with the help of a team of potters, he produced a range of reduction-fired standard tableware.
 
To promote and market the ware, Byron made inventive use of well-designed catalogues, posters, and postcards. In the late 80's Byron abandoned large-scale production of tableware in favor of making more individual pots. Byron moved his studio to Louisville, Kentucky in 1989.
 
In the last decade of Byron's life he continued to teach both here in the US and abroad. His travels to Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, and the Netherlands gave him an opportunity to both teach and learn, to explore new material, and to develop new techniques.
 
Byron Temple influenced generations of potters with classes and workshops at schools ranging from Penland and Haystack to the Pratt Institute and the Philadelphia College of Art, among others. Byron's work was spare with simple lines. It was, as Byron temple said, "a combination of the Bauhaus and Japan." For those who knew Byron Temple and mark his passing with regret there is left behind a body of work that speaks volumes about a man and his contribution to the world of clay.
 
Earth and Fire is proud to be the only gallery in the United States to have some of the final pots made by Byron Temple.
 

 

 

 
Current Incentive -- 50% -- July 1

 
Incentive will be increased by 10% each Tuesday until these pots find their owners.
Don't wait too long and let someone else get "your" pot.

 

 

 

Wood-fired bowl Catalog 89B


 
3 1/4" tall X 4" in diameter
Note: This piece is NOT marked with Byron's stamp.
However, a copy of the catalog of the inventory in the estate
will be sent to the buyer to show provenance.
$400
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

Large Bowl Catalog 135


 

 
(Detail)

 
3 1/4" tall X 5 1/2" in diameter
$450
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

White Bowl Catalog 148A


 
2 1/2" tall X 6" in diameter
$300
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

White Bowl Catalog 145A


 
2" tall X 5" in diameter
$250
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

Bowl Catalog 106B


 
3 3/4" tall X 5" in diameter
$400
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

Bowl Catalog 106A


 
3 1/2" tall X 4" in diameter
$400
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

Stoneware Bowl -- Catalog #116C


 
3 1/2" tall X 5" in diameter
$400
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

Bowl -- Catalog #93A


 
3 1/4" tall X 5" wide X 4 1/4" deep
$400
Enter "BYRON" as the voucher code in the shopping cart to see the final price.
Buy now / View cart

 

 

 

 
Send an email if you have a question about Byron's work
 

 

 
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