December 1991 1 William Hunt............................................ Editor Ruth C. Butler .......................... Associate Editor Robert L. Creager........................... Art Director Kim S. Nagorski..... ...................Assistant Editor Shawn R. LaRowe ....................... Staff Assistant Mary Rushley ................... Circulation Manager Mary E. Beaver.................Circulation Assistant Connie Belcher ................. Advertising Manager Spencer L. Davis ................................. Publisher Editorial, Advertising and Circulation Offices 1609 Northwest Boulevard Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212 (614) 488-8236 FAX (614) 488-4561 Ceramics Monthly (ISSN 0009-0328) is pub­ lished monthly except July and August by Professional Publications, Inc., 1609 North­ west Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43212. Second Class postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Subscription Rates:One year $22, two years $40, three years $55. Add $10 per year for subscriptions outside the U.S.A. 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All rights reserved 2 Ceramics Monthly December 1991 3 4 Ceramics Monthly VOLUME 39, NUMBER 10 • DECEMBER1991 Feature Articles A Paper Kiln by Caroline Court ................................................................... 26 Doug Casebeer by Laura Dixon ................................................................... 29 Jeff Irwin’s Wax-Resist Images ................................................................34 Sixty Years of Discovery by Harding Black .................................................36 with Rudolf Staffel and William Daley on Harding Black .............................. 38 Staten Island Zoo MuralsNew Mexico Staten Island Zoo Murals by Amanda Jaffe ..................................................42 artist Amanda Jaffe studied patterning of the zoo’s inhabitants to produce glaze The Burghley Collection .......................................................................... 44 images that related to the site of two com­ missioned tile murals; see page 42. 15th Fletcher Challenge Exhibition by Peter Lange.................................... 45 A Paper Kiln All you need are a stack of Magnesium Matt Glazes by Harold McWhinnie ........................................... 53 pots, a few firebrick, slurry-coated paper over chicken wire, a tin can, and you’ve built a useful, wood-fueled kiln; Caroline Airbrushing on Clay by Hanna Lore Hombordy ........................................... 78 Court explains, starting on page 26. Manipulating Raku Glazes by Robert Keyser...............................................82 Airbrushing on ClayUnderglazes, slips, engobes and glazes can be airbrushed on raw, bisqued or glazed surfaces for a vari­ ety of effects; turn to page 78 for advice on developing patterns and overcoming com­ Up Front mon difficulties, as well as purchasing, operating and cleaning an airbrush. Dorothy and Walter Auman Breaking In (1925, 1926-1991)............................... 10 by Kay Babineau-Rector .................... 14 Free Summer Workshops Listing ............ 10 Bill Griffith.............................................. 16 Tableware in Detroit................................ 18 Jim Kraft................................................... 10 Bonsai Containers Jolyon Hofsted by Lorraine Joyal................................ 18 by Gerard Haggerty ........................... 12 Robert Sperry Commission......................20 NEA Deadlines ....................................... 12 Platter Competition ................................. 20 Uncommon Ground Colorful Clay .......................................... 22 by Shirley Johnson ............................. 14 Artist Information Hotline ...................... 22 Rhode Island Design................................ 14 18th Annual Earthworks.......................... 22 Doug CasebeerThe challenge of func­ tion, says this Colorado studio potter, is “to invoke passion from an inanimate object. I don’t care if people love or hate my work, Departments but if they are indifferent, then I haven’t done my job—I haven’t created enough comfort or enough controversy”; see the Letters .......................................... 8 Classified Advertising ................ 84 profile beginning on page 29. Call for Entries ...........................58 Annual Index January-December 1991 ..................... 86 The coverTexas potter Harding Black Calendar ..................................... 64 outside his San Antonio studio, circa 1963. Suggestions ................................. 72 Comment: Recognized as “a master of glazes” (he ran The Trend toward Standardization 10,000 tests in one 15-year period), Black Questions ................................... 74 by Brad Sondahl................................. 88 talks freely about his 60-year ceramics ca­ reer beginning on page 36. New Books ................................ 76 Index to Advertisers ...................88 December 1991 5 6 C eramics Monthly December 1991 7 Letters millers are traditionally exposed to higher modern dust controls. Such exposures are dust levels). For these and other reasons extremely unlikely in nonmining work the R T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc., as environments, though all talc suppliers well as many independent health re­ routinely warn users of this potential. searchers, seriously question any “causal” In not properly researching this issue, relationship between the lung cancers Ceramics Monthly made no attempt whatso­ Think before You Fire observed and exposure to this talc dust. ever to address this matter in a thorough Many other potters may feel as I do Fortunately, other researchers have and objective fashion. Balanced reporting about firing pots, which would serve far investigated the cause-effect question and is critical when addressing complex scien­ better left as good honest clay. have concluded that the excess cancers tific issues. Such matters are rarely as Certainly, an aesthetically unsuccessful observed are not likely related to this talc definitive as we would all like them to be. [fired] ceramic piece may be broken dust. In an exhaustive study matching John Kelse and/or dumped in the garbage. Environ­ lung cancer cases against non-cases in the R. T. Vanderbilt Industrial Hygienist mentally, however, it can never be truly same work group (case control study), Dr. Norwalk, Conn. destroyed. Multiplied manifold, the waste John Gamble, the government researcher is enormous. responsible for compiling the basic statis­ Temperature/Measurement Conversion Florence Ferman tics that NIOSH reported, concluded: After many years, I, once again, am Westlake Village, Calif. “Although lung cancer SMRs are ele­ subscribing to Ceramics Monthly. I left vated, we could not detect an exposure- Canada 15 years ago, and already at that “Gasp ” Queries response relationship....In summary, there time, our ceramics department had “gone The October 1991 issue was one of the is no pattern suggesting exposure to GTC metric.” I am therefore surprised to see most comprehensive thus far. Great ar­ talc increases the risk of lung cancer.” that all temperature references in the ticles! In addition, in a report from the Amer­ magazine are in Fahrenheit. I would like I read “Gasp” with much interest as I ican Thoracic Society on the health effects to suggest that future temperature refer­ have been experimenting with natural of tremolite, the group found: ences also appear in Celsius. If nothing clays in Southeast Arizona. I’ve used con­ “The nested case-control study...was else, a minimal consideration to your crete (portland cement) with ball clay and able to evaluate the potential role of European readers (and those North just plain sand and rock in the adobe. smoking and other occupational expo­ American areas that have converted to the Why would Joseph