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08-024. Gordon Martz
M-100-23 tumbler
Marshall Studios
USA, 1957
3 x 3 x 4"
Glazed ceramic
Hand signed
When I first moved to Champaign almost two years ago, I had visions in my head of Marshall Studios pottery around every corner. Each garage sale had at least a few pieces. Estate sales and thrift stores were brimming over with Gordon and Jane Martz's designs. Unfortunately those "visions of sugarplums dancing in my head" weren't anything like reality. In fact, today is the first piece of Martz pottery I've found in over nine months, and not for lack of trying.
Pieces are, of course, readily available in the local vintage modern store. In fact they specialize in Marshall Studios to a point. Their collection is impressive, and scores of pieces would be available to me at a moment's notice. But what fun is that? The thrill of the hunt is what I'm all about, and picking up a lone tumbler for 50 cents once a year to me is much more desirable to filling my cupboards in mere seconds and paying thousands of times more for the privilege. I'm not saying that a vintage modern store isn't a very good and quite valid source for those things you "need." I just think that by going out and really searching for these things I'm getting more than just the object. I'm getting an experience. A story to go along with these things. And if you ask me, that's priceless.
When I assumed that Martz pottery would be more readily available here, I figured the proximity of Marshall Studios workshop — only 60 miles away, just across the Indiana border — would work to my advantage. Now that I see I was mistaken in my assumption, I am actually glad for it. The satisfaction of finding each piece — even a simple undecorated tumbler — is so much greater than if it were a daily occurrence. Not to say I would mind finding more ...
Found on June 20, 2008 in Champaign, IL.
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