Tall Narrow Vase with Cover

A chance encounter with a book by Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton (1915–1968) inspired Thomas Bezanson to become a Benedictine monk in 1959. At the priory he began making ceramics to sell to visitors and aid the monastic community. From these humble beginnings, his art flourished and now appears in major museum collections worldwide. In his intense dedication to perfection, Bezanson reportedly destroyed ninety percent of his ceramic production—works that did not meet his high standards.

First exposed to East Asian ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, he later traveled to Japan to visit famous ceramic artists, and then to Taiwan to see Chinese ceramics from the former imperial collection. He then began to experiment with the Honan Tenmoku glaze recipe published by studio potter Bernard Leach (1887–1979), based on Chinese and Japanese black-glaze traditions. Bezanson made this glaze a part of his repertoire. He felt that his vessels shared with his East Asian predecessors a “continuity of spirit that is felt with and by all potters.”