Vintage Studio Pottery Blue Ombré Planter by Deanna Nichols

Studio ceramic planter by ceramicist, Deanna Nichols (b. 1942-2017, Missouri).
Holding a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute (1965) and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in California (1967), Nichols was educated in painting and complex pottery making techniques at an academic level and later served as an educator at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA, and The Chrysler Museum School in Norfolk, VA.
The second floor of the new student center at Kansas City Art Institute is named for Nichols (see image).
This piece dates to the early 1990s, based on the signature "D. Nichols," which she used during that era and features a blue ombré pattern, beginning at the base with only a tinge of blue and deepening near the rim. Attractive color palette, sculptural bulbous-form, and incised linear decoration.
From the family of Deanna Nichols' personal collection of her pieces.
"I fell under the spell of the wheel, loving the physical beauty of the moves required to form clay and the sense of peace that came from throwing. Function has always been the thing that made it work for me. That and the people who take the pieces into their lives and make it all relevant. Should this lump of clay become a vessel and Should it dry without crack, Fire without flaw and Serve without breaking, Then may it claim For its maker A tiny bit of immortality." - Deanna Nichols, 2008
H: 9.75" x Diameter: 10.5"