Studio, 20 Solonos Street, Athens, 1961
On 6 December Vernadaki’s first solo exhibition opened at her studio on Solonos Street. It comprised about 100 works, mainly pottery vessels in simple, austere forms – some worked by hand and others on the wheel – with simple decoration, based for the most part on a few incised lines and black or greyish oxidation. Generally speaking, in this early period of her career, Vernadaki exploited the potential of the clay and explored the effect that different colour combinations and careful control of the various stages of firing could have on the end product. The forms she used refer back to certain types of traditional pottery and to ancient vases but they also signal the beginning of her exploration of ceramic modernism.
Ceramic objects by Eleni Vernadaki exhibited in her workshop in December 1961. (Photo. E. Vernadaki archive)