Research Guides: ART 2140: Ceramics Foundations: Research Books & Databases

Books on Ceramic Techniques (Including Handbuilding/Coiling)

Coiling: Ceramics Handbook by Michael Hardy
Call #: MAIN 738.14 H271C

Publication Date: 2006

Coiling has become one of the most versatile ceramic techniques. This practical handbook explores this technique covering its history, materials used, tools and equipment, and methods. Covers countries as far apart as Africa, South America and the Mediterranean.
Mastering Hand Building: Techniques, Tips, and Tricks for Slabs, Coils, and More by Sunshine Cobb
Call #: MAIN 738.1 C653M

Publication Date: 2018

Mastering Hand Building teaches everything you need to know about building with clay by hand, from the basics of coils and slabs through more complex form design.
Hand Building by Shay Amber
Call #: MAIN 738.14 A491H

Publication Date: 2008

Covers how to pinch forms, create coils, make flat slabs, work with simple molds and armatures, and ornament your piece with stencils, slips, underglazes, terra sigillata, and more. Each technique is laid out in easy-to-follow step-by-step photos.
Handbuilt Pottery Techniques Revealed by Jacqui Atkin
Call #: MAIN 738.1 A873H

Publication Date: 2004

The author instructs in coil, slab, mold, and pinch techniques to produce pots, bowls, vases, tiles, and other decorative pieces. Step-by-step photos of the cutaway type to show correct hand positions for controlling the clay, both inside and outside the form.
Advanced Pottery by Linda Bloomfield
Call #: MAIN 738.1 B655A

Publication Date: 2011

Focuses on advanced techniques, including throwing on the wheel, hand building, coiling, slabbing, making and using molds, and altering thrown work.
Ceramics: A World Guide to Traditional Techniques by Bryan Sentance
Call #: MAIN 738.1 S478C

Publication Date: 2004

A world-wide survey of traditional ceramics. Evaluates specific types for their materials, techniques, decoration types, and uses. Covers firing, glazes, molding, and throwing.
The Ceramics Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques by Louisa Taylor
Call #: MAIN 738.14 T243C

Publication Date: 2011

With more than 700 photos and step-by-step instructions on molding, firing, and glazing. Also included are examples of contemporary work, historical information, and artist profiles.
The Complete Potter: The Complete Reference Tools, Materials, and Techniques for All Potters and Ceramicists by Steve Mattison
Call #: MAIN 738.1 M444C

Publication Date: 2003

Takes readers through every phase of the potter's craft, from clays, types of ware, different designs, techniques, decorations, kilns and firing. Illustrated with 600 how-to photos.

Books on Historic Ceramics

Cedarville Books

Global Clay: Themes in World Ceramic Traditions by John A. Burrison
Call #: MAIN 738 B971G

Publication Date: 2017

Explores the recurring universal themes appear in the world's ceramic traditions. Illustrated with over 200 cross-cultural illustrations of ceramics from prehistory to the present.
The Red and the Black: Studies in Greek Pottery by Brian A. Sparkes
Call #: MAIN 738.382 S736R

Publication Date: 1996

Covers the history of Greek pottery, both figured and plain. Detailed analysis of the subject matter of figured scenes covering some of the main preoccupations of ancient Greece: myth, fantasy and everyday life. It sets the artefacts in the context of the societies that produced them, highlighting the social, art historical, mythological and economic contexts.
Ancient Pottery of Holy Land: From its Beginnings in the Neolithic Period to the End of the Iron Age by Ruth Amerin
Call #: MAIN 738.0933 A516A

Publication Date: 1986
American Art Pottery: The Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection by Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen; Martin Eidelberg; Adrienne Spinozzi
Call #: MAIN 738 F868

Publication Date: 2018

The fascinating story of the American art pottery movement told through 300 of the finest examples of works made by both well-known and less familiar ceramists.

OhioLINK Books

Ceramic Art and Civilisation by Paul Greenhalgh
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2021

This book traces the story of ceramic art from the Ancient Greeks to the present day. Interwoven in this journey through time and place is the story of the pots themselves, the culture of the ceramics, and their character and meaning.
Ten Thousand Years of Pottery by Emmanuel Cooper
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2000

Begins with the earliest civilizations of the Near East and Middle East and follows the production of pottery chronologically around the globe. The illustrations offer representative examples of the major styles, materials, and forms of all periods.
Pottery in the Making: Ceramic Traditions by Ian Freestone (Editor); David Gaimster (Editor)
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 1997

Investigates ceramics throughout the world over the past 12,000 years, including ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Japan, pre-Hispanic Peru, Greece, China, medieval and Renaissance Europe, Africa, and India. Addresses the environmental, political, and cultural contexts.
History of Ancient Pottery by Samuel Birch
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2015

This illustrated book on ancient pottery, covers the composition and techniques of the pottery of ancient Egypt and Assyria, with notes on Jewish Phoenician wares, and begins an examination of the techniques and art of the Greek ceramicists.
Late Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Pottery by John W. Hayes; Kathleen Warner Slane
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2022

This volume presents the Late Classical through Roman pottery from the excavations at Isthmia. A general discussion is followed by a catalog presenting datable contexts and then by a catalogue of other noteworthy pottery.
The Transformation of Athens: Painted Pottery and the Creation of Classical Greece by Robin Osborne
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2018

This book explores how remarkable changes in ancient Greek pottery reveal the transformation of classical Greek culture. Examines the thousands of surviving Athenian red-figure pots painted between 520 and 440 BC and describes the changing depictions of soldiers and athletes, religious occasions, and scenes of daily life.
The Greek Vase: The Art of the Storyteller by John H. Oakley
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2013

Presents an illustrated account of Ancient Greek vases and their role in human culture, not merely as beautiful vessels, but also as instruments of storytelling and bearers of meaning.
Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery by Pueblo Pottery Collective; Elysia Poon; Rick Kinsel
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2022

An impressive survey of more than 100 pieces of historic Pueblo pottery. For centuries, Pueblo people have made beautiful pottery from natural clay using a coil method.
Chinese Pottery and Porcelain: An Account of the Potter's Art in China from Primitive Times to the Present Day by R. L. Hobson
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 2010
The History of American Ceramics: 1607 to the Present by Elaine Levin
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 1988

Beginning with the red earthenware made by the potters of Jamestown in 1607, and continuing through to objects made by present-day artists, this is an historical survey of the major developments and practitioners of American ceramics.
Earth, Fire, and Spirit: African Pottery and Sculpture by E. Michael Whittington
Call #: OhioLINK

Publication Date: 1998

This catalog is published in conjunction with a museum exhibition.

Databases

These art-focused databases contain research on pottery, potters, and broader artistic movements:

Art & Architecture Complete

Provides art & architecture research from academic journals, magazines, and books.
Art Full Text

Index, abstracts, and full text for articles in art.

Art Full Text [1984- ] (EBSCO interface) offers full text plus abstracts and indexing of an international array of peer-selected publications; now with expanded coverage of Latin American, Canadian, Asian and other non-Western art, new artists, contemporary art, exhibition reviews, and feminist criticism. Full-text coverage for selected periodicals is also included. In addition to articles, Art Full Text indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals.
Art Index Retrospective, 1929-1984

Provides access to art literature covering art history, architectural history, and the visual arts. Stretching back to the early 20th century, this database contains primary source material on a variety of art historical movements.

Content includes high-quality indexing of nearly 600 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed, and citations of over 25,000 book reviews.