When you make your way to the kitchen each morning, what would happen if you were met with landscape, memory, a reminder of simpler times?
Pulling bowls out for breakfast while loved ones gather, you find parallel lines of walking patterns dragged behind a crab as it scutters over the sand. Someone laughs like hues of warm goldenrod peering over the tops of tall grass. What will the day bring? Conversation arises like dotted impressions on the beach after a hard rain.
Such are the textures, colors, and simple daily rhythms evoked by porcelain kitchenwares Potter Elizabeth Benotti brings to life in her midcoast studio in Eliot, Maine. Set against the backdrop of an ever-constant yet ever-changing coastline, her work embodies balance between that which is sturdy, cyclical, and made for every day, and the delicate variations weathered in landscape over time.
Thoughtful vessels blend bone-white porcelain with deep black lines, earthy-blues, and clay-colored variations on a theme. Each one of Benotti’s signature pieces is made by hand, one by one, using slab and hand-building techniques that reveal gentle finger-pressed contours and basic silhouettes, tugging on the wabi-sabi of it all.
For those seeking the perfect blend of elevated and mundane, Benotti offers made-to-order collections suitable for outfitting a kitchen with basic staples like platters, bowls, and mugs. Available two to four weeks after ordered, all of these pieces are sturdy enough for daily use yet distinctive enough to play a central role.
Other readymade items feature more diverse functions, such as a painted butter dish, spoon rest, pitcher or even a ceramic light shade. Evoking sweet memories of home from whatever landscape most stirs your heart, Benotti’s simple colors, shapes, and textures speak to a life well-lived in the beautifully imperfect here and now. You can find her wares at elizabethbenotti.com as well as by appointment at her showroom in Kittery. ▪
Artist sourcing for this Decor Maine Craftsmanship Profile was provided by the Maine Crafts Association.
