Minoan Tastes Creates Ancient Flavors from the Land, Sea and Sky of Crete
Series III: Ancient Craft of Potting
Does not the potter have power over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
Roman 9:21
The process of collecting, cleaning and molding raw clay into a ceramic cooking pot is magic! Behind all magic are skills, a vision and an ordered process rooted in the natural world. After many years learning the craft and studying ancient Cretan cooking pots, the Minoan tripod cooking pots are reborn. Here you will discover part of this ancient process.
Creating dialogue through exploration and documentation is the lifeblood of the collaboration between Jerolyn E. Morrison and Stella Johnson. The two women began working together on the Greek island of Crete in 2011 to document the Minoan Tastes project, and continue to do so annually. The images exhibited are from this collection and tell the story of modern people’s understanding of the past based on archaeological and environmental evidence. The period explored is Minoan life (ca. 1700-1450 BC), which is a time of growth and contact between communities within Crete and many foreign lands. People in the Aegean during this time were also recovering from the Theran eruption on the island of Santorini, which was once believed to have destroyed the Minoan civilization. The exhibition is divided into a series, and the topics are Minoan-style ceramic cooking pots and cooking, ingredients that were available during the Minoan period, and modern Cretan faces.