Wall plaque

William Wyman received his M.A. from Columbia University in 1951. In 1953, he opened Herring Run Pottery, which produced utilitarian stoneware items, such as garden urns and hanging pots. During this time Wyman also experimented with the ceramic medium, constructing two-foot high slabs with decorated and textured surfaces. This wall plaque carries over Wyman's interest in slabs of clay on a smaller scale. Grey conte crayon on the surface of the stones that make up this false temple door highlights the lines etched into the clay slabs, while the delicate shading gives an ancient architectural presence to the small entryway. Both of these subtle details reflect the artist's interest in the passage of time and the eternal. Compare Wyman's false entryway to the Egyptian False Door on view in Gallery 236. Wyman's entrance can be considered a late twentieth-century meditation on a passageway for the eternal soul, or ka.