William C. Hunt...... Editor Barbara Tipton ...... Associate Editor Robert L. Creager ...... Art Director Ruth C. Butler...... Copy Editor Valentina Rojo ...... Editorial Assistant Mary Rushley...... Circulation Manager Mary E. Beaver. . . . Circulation Assistant Jayne Lohr ...... 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 Ceramics Monthly (ISSN 0009-0329) is published monthly except July and August by Professional Publications, Inc.—S. L. Davis, Pres.; P. S. Emery, Sec.: 1609 North west Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43212. Second Class postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Subscription Rates:One year SI8, two years $34, three years $45. Add $5 per year for subscriptions outside the U.S.A. Change of Address:Please give us four weeks advance notice. Send both the magazine wrapper label and your new address to: Ceramics Monthly, Circulation Office, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Contributors: Manuscripts, photographs, color separations, color transparencies (in cluding 35mm slides), graphic illustrations, texts and news releases dealing with ceramic art and craft are welcome and will be con sidered for publication. A booklet describing procedures for the preparation and submis sion of a manuscript is available upon re quest. Send manuscripts and correspondence about them to: Ceramics Monthly, The Ed itor, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Telecommunications and Disk Media: Ceramics Monthly accepts articles and other data by modem. Phone us for transmission specifics. Articles may also be submitted on 3.5-inch microdiskettes readable with an Ap ple Macintosh computer system. Indexing:Articles in each issue of Ceramics Monthly are indexed in the Art Index. A 20-year subject index (1953-1972), covering Ceramics Monthly feature articles, Sugges tions and Questions columns, is available for $1.50, postpaid, from the Ceramics Monthly Book Department, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Additionally, each year’s arti cles are indexed in the December issue. Copies and Reprints:Microfiche, 16mm and 35mm microfilm copies, and xerographic re prints are available to subscribers from Uni versity Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Copies in micro fiche are also available from Bell & Howell, Micro Photo Division, Old Mansfield Road, Wooster, Ohio 44691. Back Issues: Back issues, when available, are $3 each, postpaid. Write for a list. Postmaster:Please send address changes to Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Copyright © 1986 Professional Publications, Inc. All rights reserved January 1986 3 4 C eramics Monthly Ceramics Monthly Volume 34, Number 1 January 1986
Feature Articles High Styles at the Whitney...... 24 12th Functional Ceramics Exhibition 26 Steven Donegan’s Clay Paintings...... 28 Slip Casting: Studio Tool of the ’80s by Nancy LaPointe...... 29 Portfolio: Directions by Jane Gustin...... 39 An Approach to Single Firing by Steven Hill...... 47 Cone 020-4 Overglazes by Gerald Rowan ...... 52
Departments Letters to the Editor...... 7 Where to Show...... 13 Questions...... 15 Itinerary...... 17 Suggestions...... 19 Comment: In Search of Pottery Masters by Ersatz Soubriquet...... 21 News & Retrospect...... 55 New Books...... 75 Classified Advertising...... 78 Index to Advertisers...... 80
The Cover Wheel-thrown stoneware pitcher, 11 inches in height, with dipped and sprayed glazes, single fired to Cone 10 in a reducing atmosphere, by Steven Hill, Kansas City, Missouri. Fuel and labor savings are two ob vious arguments in favor of single firing, but Steven says, “The real value lies in the way it ties together the making and glazing processes, plus various influ ences it can have on one’s aesthetic concerns.” Many potters have avoided single firing mainly because of lack of experience with the process and insufficient time to develop reliable clays and glazes. Beginning on page 47, Steven Hill’s article presents a practical starting point for understanding the aesthetics, tech niques and theory behind the process. Photo: R. C. Nible. January 1986 5 6 Ceramics Monthly Letters
November Comment Response I respect what you and your generation ularly excellent. I expect protest from lots of I would like to remind Lili Krakowski have done to bring us where we are today, folks who won’t be comfortable with Lili’s (“Taking Care of Reality”) that water seeks Ms. Krakowski, but now that we are here, useful comments. It’s also terrific to see an its own level. I have no complaint with a set free the reins and let a new generation article on computers that begins to put them skilled craftsperson augmenting income benefit from your hard work by using that where they belong—as potentially useful through another, more remunerative craft. It special vision and understanding which has tools, not dehumanizing, awful machines tak is important to recognize your own abilities long characterized creative thinkers. Let us ing over the world of art. “Bartering Your and if skill is your forte then by all means, build a living legacy of people who value, Work” was also excellent. Ross Murphy really use it. nurture, and exploit an intellectual ability understands the joy of bartering. Where Lili Krakowski and I part com your generation could only bring out on Karolyn Ehrenpreis pany is in her implication that all craftspeo weekends. Milford, N.H. ple are limited to skill as a primary attribute. Curtis Benzie Quite the opposite, I find most of my crafts Columbus, Ohio Don’t let the anti-how-to potters know that acquaintances to be primarily creative think November carries three excellent articles to ers and only secondarily skilled workers. Re I appreciate Lili Krakowski’s article. Her come under the process classification. They alizing that in our society creative thinkers words go to the heart of the dilemma I face cover well some of the how-to problems that are valued and paid more than skilled work every day. After graduation from art school face every potter. For certainly, financial ers, it would seem logical, as well as desir I worked four years teaching pottery and matters are top priorities. able, for those craftspeople in need of money working part- and full-time jobs to supple The best is probably “Bartering Your Work” to use their primary attribute, creative think ment my income. I found these jobs halted followed closely by “Think Before You Com ing, to provide their financial stability. my maturing process as a potter, but when pute” and ending well with Comment—of Perhaps my use of the term “creative we cannot put decent food on the table or which the last sentence is a beauty. thinker” needs some further explanation. I pay the bills, a job is necessary. I agree that Martha Hodges am considering this term as the type of cog art schools should include practical training Williamsport, Pa. nitive activity that allows for the consider in their curricula. I encourage anyone with ation and coordination of abstract bits of in a passion for potting to go for it! Few profes Potters, Zombies and Others formation into a logical, usable format, e.g., sions can offer the satisfaction of bringing I would like to comment on the two letters making an undefined lump of clay into a beauty and meaning into the lives of others. (November CM) in response to my article functioning pitcher. Obviously, that’s not the David Beumee of the above title. wide-eyed dreaming many people equate with Lafayette, Colo. Thomas Feyrer’s letter misses the point creativity, but the type of intelligence that utterly and shows a typical lack of under allows us to be programmers rather than November’s Comment by Lili Krakowski standing as to what the handcraft revival programmed. was sobering food for thought. Existence is movement was and still is about. To equate The idea of resolving one’s financial need itself a tenuous phenomenon and perhaps more the role of past generations of potters with at a level of accomplishment below one’s aes so for the potters who, without the luxury that of a proletarian drill-press operator shows thetic standards I find most confused. It seems of a university teaching job or other income, that his idea of what a potter’s life is like to presuppose an extremely narrow degree invest their hearts in their work and then the starts somewhere in the industrial world of of intelligence and I think belies an attitude “tidal waves of reality” or at least those of the 19th century, when a thrower was indeed more than a real situation. If none of Lili the marketplace don’t permit them to buy degraded to the ranks of the lumpen prole Krakowski’s contemporaries expected to “live “baby’s shoes.” tariat, and deprived of all creative scope. His off their art,” it is not terribly surprising that I for one can remember the depression that question “Why all the fuss” underlines yet none of them did. I hesitate to say it, but that the cost of the weekly groceries would cause. further his lack of awareness of the rewards attitude does seem to almost define “self-de- I also remember, when I was starting pottery enjoyed by a potter while following the self- feat.” in Japan ten years ago, how doubtful I was reliant life-style made possible by indepen Today there is not only a market large if it was even possible to earn a living in the dence. enough to sustain more successful traditional U.S. as a potter. It may be rather curious Given the necessary skill and the relevant crafts businesses, but many craftspeople have but at the same time I occasionally patron workshop infrastructure (note: I do not call the level of confidence and self-assurance ized a stall in Kyoto that sold cooked sweet it a studio—something much more spacious necessary to design new products and con potatoes. The proprietor, an old man, was a and comprehensive is needed), it is possible cepts specifically for the market. Granted, kind of inspiration to me because I thought to offer work with vitality and quality which many of these individuals are not making a making pots couldn’t be any crazier than people of modest means can afford to live living “off their art,” but they are making a baking potatoes. I guess my real point is that with. This differs greatly from exposure to living with their art-related intelligence at a though it may be fine to diversify one’s in creative work glimpsed only if and when a level of acceptance and monetary compen come, I think it’s more important to have a visit to an art gallery is involved. It is the sation in line with their nonartist peers. lot of desire to make pots, and guts enough quality of living and of working for the pro As technology changes our society and cre to persist. ducer and the consumer that is at issue. Pot ative thinking becomes more obviously our I had a fire last January which destroyed ters have rare opportunities to enrich their primary human resource while information my house and studio. There was no insur own lives as well as those of their clients if retention falls to the legions of electronic de ance but with lots of friends I built a new they accept that as part of their role. I agree vices, I can only hope that artists and crafts kiln and studio. I’m glad that I’m still able this certainly would not happen if “never- people will seize the moment to benefit them to be making pots. I feel fortunate to have changing” forms are “cranked out day in and selves and their society through a more the help and encouragement from friends. day out” as Thomas Feyrer maliciously and complete utilization of their special intelli Tom Cannon gratuitously assumes they always are. This gence. If in years to come all our craftspeople Hyogo, Japan would only happen to self-employed potters are preoccupying their incredibly dynamic, devoid of inspiration and without dedication creative minds with skill-related tasks, then November Issue to values other than purely mercenary ones. who will take responsibility for the many Thanks for the November articles “Taking Peter Leach’s letter seems to require a few situations that will require a creative intel Care of Reality” and “Think Before You words of apology on my part. I am sorry to ligence of the kind in which we specialize? Compute.” The “Reality” article was partic Continued January 1986 1 8 CERAMICS MONTHLY Letters tiresome production-versus-art bickering and versity of Science and Technology, Technol get on with it. ogy Consulting Centre’s one and only ce have given the impression of having failed to Peter Sasgen ramic consultant, I find myself doing much notice the renaissance of a new and growing Philadelphia of the same work Michael Cardew started. “forest.” I would like to say that I am aware The article seemed like it was written spe of that scattered community “out there,” and Ted Randall cifically for me. Although he wasn’t here long, it is for them that I have written a book due I would like to acknowledge the sense of and it was quite some time ago, the legacy to appear in March ’86 called The Potter's loss I feel at the death of Ted Randall. His of Michael Cardew continues in Ghana. Alternative. It is being published by Me- contribution to the ceramics community Many of the lecturers at the ceramics de thuens of Australia and its content sums up through his work and influence at Alfred partment remember quite fondly training my experiences of practical potting gleaned University is widely recognized. I feel very under Michael; there’s a kiln said to be built in something over half a century. fortunate to have been able to correspond and by him still standing in the Volta region Harry Davis work with him on his exhibition at Contem (though it’s now no longer used); and I seem Nelson, New Zealand porary Crafts. to find myself continually going through Pi Ted was a warm and caring man with a oneer Pottery looking for research he did on The Real Issue great spirit. His insights have helped me the local materials here (little has been done My wife subscribes toCeramics Monthly. professionally and personally, and I will miss in continuing this research, so it’s still pretty I read it because I’m interested in visual peo his articles and letters reminding me that much a matter of trial and error.) ple and their ideas. So I must say I’m mighty everything comes from the heart. I would like I, too, am working with the traditional impressed by the sheer beauty and concep to thank him for the gift of his art and life pottery craft (one of many projects) which is tual diversity of the work I see in the mag and sharing his thoughts. still facing the dilemma of adapting or dying azine. But I’m also amused by the constant, Molly Major out. Unfortunately it’s leaning toward dying, and in my opinion, pointless feud that rages Contemporary Crafts Gallery at least on the village level. Small pottery between the production ceramists and the artist Portland, Ore. studios, using locally made hand-turning ceramists. wheels and low-fire kilns, are starting to spring I am a photographer involved in the world Wiz Glaze up, and it’s with these that I’m primarily of exhibitions, galleries and grants. And I I just this moment turned to page 34 in trying to work. Kaolin deposits have been can tell you that similar (and ridiculous) ar my November issue and found “The Wiz found and are being used in Ghana. One of guments between photographers whose focus Glaze 08-10!” Is CM crazy? There are a my projects is to get the ceramic department is the commercial milieu and those whose million and one glazes to use in this world to use this kaolin to make refractory bricks aim is art also raged for many years. How and for Ceramics Monthly to be so irre for high-fire, wood-burning kilns, then on to ever, those arguments pretty much ceased to sponsible as to encourage the use of a 45.9% local glazes. Currently, most of the glazed exist with the appearance in the early ’70s white lead glaze is shameful, and the little ware produced in Ghana is done with electric of publications that exclusively encompassed paragraph from the editor does not absolve kilns, using imported materials for glazes at one or the other of the two camps. Thus, responsibility. How does CM know no one earthenware temperatures. As Ghana has a photographers who view with suspicion oth will ever use this on a functional piece? How “soft currency,” imported materials and er photographers who are not interested in does CM know everyone will be sure to use equipment are impossible for the small stu hardware, studio practices, etc., indulge a respirator when using the raw lead? If dio, making this form of pottery beyond the themselves in magazines that stress the Gerald Rowan wants to use a high-lead con reach of the small operators and causing the “glamour” of the commercial world undis tent glaze, fine, it’s his health that’s in jeop price of glazed ware to be astronomical rel tracted by the ambiguities of aesthetics. Pho ardy. But for heaven’s sake don’t pass it on ative to to prices in this country. Yet everything tographers who are interested in issues at to the world. is available locally for high-fired work. The tending to the arcana of personal vision have When I was in pottery school in England, small studios currently do only bisqueware their own monthlies and quarterlies to pe a fellow student had to hammer an entire and can get but slightly better prices than ruse. kiln load of pots when the instructors dis the functional potters. The potential is tre It’s obvious, then, that what you want are covered he used a high-lead content glaze. mendous. two different magazines, neither one of which They were beautiful pots and the student was Anyway, this was meant as a thank you is Ceramics Monthly. One that would cover pissed off, but the school, Harrow, felt a re letter and not a monologue on my work; it’s production ceramics, and another that would sponsibility to the public who would buy and just to show how pertinent the article was. be oriented toward art ceramics. I doubt, use his wares. Ceramics, appropriate technology and third however, that the readership in your field is Several times a month I answer customers’ world countries are a dynamite combination large enough to support two publications of [questions] about lead glazes, and if my glaz to be working with. the quality of CM. Even as big as the field es are “safe.” All we need is a few dozen Greg Chase of photography is, it’s hard for art photog potters turning out unsafe high-lead glazes Kumasi, Ghana raphy publications to survive. In fact, several on functional ware and the public will really have disappeared in the last two years. The be alarmed, and justifiably so. Awareness Urged hard-core photo-enthusiast magazines sur Please Ceramics Monthly, think next time In June 1984 I had a kiln disaster in vive because they carry heavy-duty advertisbefore publishing and encouraging such a volving a shutoff device armed with a cone ing, becoming in effect equipment manufac wiz! for bisque firing. The device failed mechan turers’ catalogs interspersed with text. Rick Urban ically, causing an overfiring; this tragic event Ceramics Monthly is a fine magazine that Dillsboro, N.C. has caused me much grief and income loss. fits in between two extremes very nicely. Best (I am a college ceramics professor and of all, it already exists. We are lucky indeed Lasting Impact professional craftsperson experienced in fir to have such an array of visual riches pre This is a thank you for the recent article ing various electric kilns for the past 15 years sented to us every month. (June/July/August) on/by Michael Car-without any previous mishaps.) To date the It seems to me the real issue should be dew. I realize this letter is a little late, but manufacturers of the cones, kiln and shutoff ceramics itself; how to define, redefine, or I’m currently in West Africa, and my CMs device are telling me they are not responsible even reshape (no pun intended) the medium don’t arrive as regularly as they did in the and are passing the buck to each other. The to one’s own needs and vision, be they busi States. I found the article tremendously time American Craft Council was helpful and ness, art or otherwise. Certainly there’s no ly and pertinent. would have backed me up if I had insurance right or wrong way to do that. In the end I’m a Peace Corps volunteer, currently on my equipment. This letter is to make pot it’s the work that counts, nothing else. serving in Ghana, West Africa (one of the ters and teachers aware of problems involv- Therefore, I respectfully suggest you end this countries Cardew worked in). As the Uni Continued January 1986 9
Letters that aspire to criticism on such an esoteric level that ordinary people cannot follow the ing equipment we depend on to produce our thought process, or read them with the aid work and income. of an Oxford English Dictionary or a book Mary Nicholson on aesthetics. But I liked the one by a woman Suffern, N.Y. from the Boston area (Cohen I think her name was) in December ’82. Writing these Gable-Arched Kiln comments has provoked me to dig through I was very pleased with the way CM pre the back issues to find the articles I am re sented the article on my gable-arched wood ferring to. In doing that little excercise I have kiln. I have retired from the faculty at Port realized what an amazingly rich and diverse land Community College, so if any readers publication CM is and what a superb job it have questions on the kiln they can write to consistently does with such a broad base to me at 5603 S.E. Aldercrest Rd., Milwaukie, cover monthly. I realized in digging back, Oregon 97222. skimming tables of contents and flipping My kiln is working beautifully and each through whole years of issues, that I almost firing is better than the last. always enjoy the department called Com Jim Schuld ment. The writing is usually lucid, enter Milwaukie, Ore. taining, pertinent and leaves me feeling like In Gratitude I do when I’ve had a good meal. I least like The Association of San Francisco Potters the technical articles. I fire in oxidation to and Glassblowers wishes to express gratitude Cone 5 and have gotten all of my glaze for and appreciation to Bruce and Marcia mulas from CM. My best selling recipe is McDougal for their many years of service Old Faithful (CM February ’80), which I to the ceramics community of California use over a slip of 50% red iron and 50% the (Letters, June/July/August 1985). Big Creekclay body; it’s wonderfully rich and deep and Pottery, the only live-in ceramics school on colorful. the West Coast, was the site of our two re Gerald Cowley treats, as well as excellent workshops and Owego, N.Y. classes that many of us participated in. The Just when I think, “Oh my! This book McDougals’ contributions, generosity and (CM) is going crazy, showing all these ab enthusiastic support of ceramic arts deserve errations”—then there is an edition that has recognition and a hearty thank you. perfectly marvelous statements in clay, and Suzanne McCulloch I realize that, like it or not, we must be tol Corresponding Secretary, ASFP&G erant of all interpretations. Berkeley, Calif. Iris T. Smith Subscribers’ Comments Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada I use pottery as therapy to ease the stress It was interesting to see the differences in of everyday survival. All this “search for the both ceramics and CM after having left the truth within the form and without the form” clay world for ten years, returning to the is bunk. Let’s hear it from people who take addiction recently. There is so much more an ageless material, reshape it and create color, sense of humor and professional atti something aesthetic. Nothing more, nothing tude in the world of clay in the ’80s. Hurray less. for both potters and CM. Great to be back. Samuel W Guyette Sandra Egan Mattoon, 111. Divide, Colo. CM is not just getting older—it’s getting Ten years of work with reduction-fired better. The November issue looks and reads stoneware proved a suitable baptism-by-fire terrific! for my current project—the raising of a 4½- Katherine Farmer month-old baby! Rohner Park, Calif. Let’s have more articles on white earth I liked the articles on sales and selling enware for wheel throwing—that’s my next techniques. The fuss these created was most direction. enjoyable, and may explain why we, as a E.A. Creasman profession, are in the low-income bracket. St. John, Virgin Islands Virginia Ainslie I would like to see more information on Arlington, Va. kitchen-table or garage potters. I have only I especially enjoy very down to earth (and recently graduated to my own workshop and usually offensive to a percentage of readers) I’m familiar with many good potters who information regarding marketing. I’m think have to move their pots so their families can ing of the article last year by Ross Murphy have supper. about selling that provoked ripples in the Janet L. Redman Letters column for months afterward. To me Lancaster, Calif. it was one of the most helpful articles I have Share your thoughts with other readers. All read, and still has impact on me. I have shared letters must be signed, but names will be it with other artists who attempt to sell their withheld on request. Address: The Editor; work and they also reaped benefit from it. I Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, especially do not like the pieces CM prints Ohio 43212. January 1986 11
Where to Show exhibitions, fairs, festivals and sales Send announcements of juried exhibitions, fairs, envelope to: Sam Rosby, A.R.T., 1555 Louis Ave., 3 slides. $12,000 in awards. Entry fee: $5; booth festivals and sales at least four months before the Elk Grove 60007. fee: $60. Contact: Eileen Kunzman, Magic City entry deadline to: The Editor, Ceramics Monthly, Saint Louis, Missouri “Contemporary Inter Art Connection, Operation New Birmingham, Suite Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212; or call: (614) pretations of Native American Art” (May 3-30) 501 Commerce Center, 2027 First Ave., N., Bir 488-8236. Add one month for listings in July and is open to Native American artists. Juried from mingham 35203; or call: (205) 254-2626. two months for those in August. up to 4 slides. Fee: $5. Contact: Craft Alliance, January 13 entry deadline Native American Exhibit, 6640 Delmar, Saint Louis Gaithersburg, Maryland The 11th annual 63130; or call: (314) 725-1177. “Spring Arts and Crafts Fair” (April 18-20) is International Exhibitions February 15 entry deadline juried from 4 slides. Fee: $100-$ 165. Send 66^ in Sheboygan, Wisconsin “Boats” (June 8-August postage to: Deann Verdier, Sugarloaf Mountain April 8 entry deadline 17) is juried from slides of work and a resume. Works, Ijamsville, Maryland 21754; or call: (301) Golden, Colorado The eighth annual “North Work should allude to a boat form. Send a self- 831-9191. American Sculpture Exhibition” (June 1-July 8) addressed, stamped envelope to: John Michael Gaithersburg, Maryland The 11 th annual is open to artists in the U.S.A., Canada and Mex Kohler Arts Center, Box 489, Sheboygan 53082. “Autumn Crafts Festival” (November 21-23) is ico. Juried from glossy 8x10 photographs of a February 21 entry deadline juried from 4 slides. Fee: $110—$200. Send 66^ in maximum of 3 entries, up to 3 views each. $6000 Lenexa, Kansas “Second Annual Lenexa Na postage to: Deann Verdier, Sugarloaf Mountain in awards. Jurors: Albert Wein and Sebastian. Fee: tional 3-Dimensional Art Show” (May 2-4) is ju Works, Ijamsville, Maryland 21754; or call: (301) SI2.50 per entry. Send self-addressed, stamped en ried from 2 slides each for up to 3 entries. $4500 831-9191. velope to: The Foothills Art Center, 809 Fifteenth in awards. Fee: $15. Contact: William H. Nicks, Gaithersburg, Maryland Ninth annual “Win St., Golden 80401; or call: (303) 279-3922. Jr., City of Lenexa, 12350 W. 87 St. Pkwy., Le ter Crafts Festival” (December 12-14) is juried April 16 entry deadline nexa 66215; or call: (913) 492-8800. from 4 slides. Fee: $110-$200. For further infor Vallauris, France The tenth “Biennale Inter February 28 entry deadline mation send 66^ in postage to: Deann Verdier, nationale de Ceramique d’Art de Vallauris” (July Lancaster, California “Desert West Juried Art Sugarloaf Mountain Works, Ijamsville, Maryland 4-September 30) is juried from up to 2 works, or Show” (April 19-25) is juried from slides. Fee: $5. 21754; or call: (301) 831-9191. a single large work that does not exceed 175 pounds, Awards. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope Timonium, Maryland Ninth annual “Spring or 59 inches square if a panel. Application dead to: Desert West Juried Art Show, Box 2811, Lan Crafts Festival” (May 2-4) is juried from 4 slides. line: March 30. Awards include a F40,000 grand caster 93539; or call: (805) 948-5886 or 945-5611. Fee: $150. Send 66^ in postage to: Deann Verdier, prize (approximately $4800). Contact: Mairie de May 10 entry deadline Sugarloaf Mountain Works, Ijamsville, Maryland Vallauris, 06220 Vallauris; or call: 64-24-24. Southport, North Carolina “Sixth Annual Na 21754; or call: (301) 831-9191. May 26 entry deadline tional Art Show” (July 2-27) is juried from slides. Timonium, Maryland Tenth annual “Mary Mino, Japan “The 1st International Ceramics Fee: $15 per entry. Contact: Associated Artists of land Crafts Festival” (October 17-19) is juried Contest ’86” (November 2-9) is open to individ Southport, Franklin Square Gallery, Box 10035, from 4 slides. Fee: $165. For further information uals or groups working in ceramic design and/or Southport 28461. send 66^ in postage to: Deann Verdier, Sugarloaf ceramic arts. Juried from up to 3 works, each Mountain Works, Ijamsville, Maryland 21754; or category. Jurors: Yusuke Aida, Nino Caruso, Lloyd call: (301) 831-9191. E. Herman, Yoshiaki Inui, Takuo Kato, Masahiro Regional Exhibitions Manassas, Virginia Sixth annual “Manassas Mori, Timo Sarpaneva, Rudolf Schnyder, Peter January 17 entry deadline Crafts Festival” (June 13-15) is juried from 4 slides. Voulkos and Carlo Zauli. Awards include a “Grand Columbia, South Carolina “Annual Juried Fee: $100-$ 150. Send 66 i in postage to: Deann Champion” per category: ¥2,000,000 (approxi Exhibition” (April 16-June 29) is open to present Verdier, Sugarloaf Mountain Works, Ijamsville, mately $8440) and a study trip; gold medals: and former residents (for at least a year) of South Maryland 21754; or call: (301) 831-9191. ¥1,000,000 (approximately $4220); and silver Carolina. Juried from 5 slides. Awards. Contact: Manassas, Virginia Sixth annual “Virginia medals: ¥500,000 (approximately $2110). Fees: Columbia Museum of Art, 1112 Bull St., Colum Crafts Festival” (September 19-21) is juried from ¥3000 (approximately $13) for 1 entry, ¥5000 bia 29201. 4 slides. Fee: $100-$ 150. For further information (approximately $21) for 2, ¥7000 (approximately February 1 entry deadline send 66
Questions Answered by the CM Technical Staff Q Tve heard several old-time potters say that our present-day glaze materials are too refined and too finely ground for really good glaze effects. What do you think? What does milling really accomplish except for dispersal of colorants like cobalt and manganese?— L.K. As you suggest, ball milling does produce better dispersal of col orants in a glaze batch—an effect which is especially useful in oxidation firing. As a very basic view of the pros and cons of milling, a case could be made that glaze particle size is a matter of personal preference, with many handsome results possible from fine, coarse or full-range-particle-size glazes, but there is more to it than this. The materials which we use for glaze making are not principally made for potters and ceramic sculptors. Rather, they are made to general industrial standards, and our part of that larger marketplace is relatively small. In order to serve the diverse needs of the U.S. industry, which principally fires in oxidation and requires the more uniform surfaces found on a variety of commercial products, ma terials are perhaps more finely ground and uncontaminated than most potters would like. So if you are looking for a well-dispersed batch, for glaze surfaces without specks and color variations, then commercial glaze materials are very good for this indeed. What’s more, there is a generalization in glaze making which states that the finer that particles are ground, the less heat work required to melt them—thus getting more glaze for less fuel— a useful economy in any pottery, commercial or otherwise. But if you want a more rugged surface, more of the quality of surfaces common to folk pottery, then more coarsely ground materials offer some useful glaze prospects either alone or in combination with commercially ground glaze materials. Try experimenting with raw materials from your environment. Like the old timers, you really don’t have to know what something is to know what it does, so pass local materials through a 60-mesh screen for a slightly coarse grind; use a 30-mesh screen for a coarse grind. Even window screen (18 mesh) can be used to sieve some glaze materials to introduce small, pebblelike structures into the glaze melt. Like everything in ceramics, though, the materials you start with are not as important as what you do with them. Some of the most beautiful pots in the history of ceramics were made with materials that might appear by themselves to have little merit. Good glaze effects can be achieved only through attention to the appropriate use of materials, whatever you choose. Q I do a lot of glaze experiments in my studio, and the other day I came up with a cobalt green! It’s a very bright, intense color, but can be toned down with other glaze ingredients. My problem is that I can’t find any information on producing green with cobalt, al though there is much data on greens produced with copper, nickel or chrome. What can you tell me about cobalt green?—C.C. The history of cobalt green is principally in the glass craft and industry where its effects have been known and used extensively for decades. Otherwise, there is little or no mention about cobalt green in ceramics texts, as its shades are seen rarely on daywork. But cobalt greens are unique colors with much potential for extending the glaze palette. A strong variety is produced when cobalt is in contact with iodine in the glassy melt; this particular reaction de pends on the substitution of I - ions for cobalt’s O 2- ions. A light blue-green is produced when small amounts of cobalt are in com bination with titania. Alkalis also tend to push cobalt from harsh blue to ultramarine, and their action is intensified by longer firing and cooling. Another variation of cobalt green is produced when uranium yellow is used in conjunction with cobalt, producing the same results as one might expect from the combination of similarly colored oil paints.
Subscribers’ inquiries are welcome and those of general interest will be answered in this column. Due to volume, letters may not be answered personally. Send questions to: Technical Staff, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. January 1986 15
Itinerary conferences, exhibitions , workshops, fairs and other events to attend
Send announcements of conferences, exhibitions, Illinois, BloomingtonJanuary 9-27 Chris Polly Hart and Mayer Shacter; at Martha Schnei workshops, juried fairs and other events at least Berti, “Clay, Stone and Wood Figures”; at Wakeley der Gallery, 2055 Green Bay Rd. two months before the month of opening to: The Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University. Indiana, Indianapolisthrough January 12 Editor, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ill inois, Chicagothrough January “Christmas at the Lilly Pavilion,” includes 18th- Ohio 43212; or call: (614) 488-8236. Add one 16 Alexandra Kochman, sculpture; at the and 19th-century porcelain Christmas decora month for listings in July and two months for those Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2320 W. Chi tions. through January 19 “Recent Acquisi in August. cago Ave. tions 1982-1985,” includes ancient Chinese ce Iowa, Cedar Rapids January 10-29 Lisa Mae ramics; at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 Williams, sculpture; at Coe College, 1220 First W. 38 St. International Conferences Ave, NE. Iowa, Ames through January 26 “Clay and Canada, Alberta, Medicine Hat May 9-11 Michigan, Holt January 11-31 Thomas Ken Fiber Show,” a national juried exhibition; at the “Medicine Hat Ceramic Symposium” will include dall; at DeMatt Gallery, 2415 Cedar St. Octagon Center for the Arts, 427 Douglas. workshops, slide lectures, meetings, a forum and New York, New YorkJanuary 7-24 Mary Iowa, Mason Citythrough January 5 “Iowa social events. Presenters: Walt Dexter, Anita Roehm, “Architectural Clay/Clay in Architec Crafts: 18”; at the Charles H. MacNider Mu Dumins, Jim Etskorn, Robin Hopper, William ture.” January 28-February 21 Cliff Mendel- seum, 303 Second St., SE. Hunt, Luke Lindoe, Les Manning, Baco Ohama son; at Greenwich House Pottery, 16 Jones St. Kansas,Wichita January 12-February 9 “Artist and Garry Williams. Fee: $95, includes some meals. New York, Syracusethrough January 5 Lydia Guild of Wichita” exhibition; at the Wichita Art Contact: Arne Handley, 574 Sixth St., NE, Med Buzio, wall forms; at the Everson Museum of Art, Association, 9112 E. Central. icine Hat, Alberta T1A 5P3; or call: (403) 529- 401 Harrison St. Louisiana, New Orleans through January 12 3844. “Selections from the Campbell Museum Collec New Zealand, Christchurch May 16-18 The tion,” soup tureens; at the New Orleans Museum New Zealand Society of Potters annual conven Group Exhibitions of Art, City Park. tion; at Christ’s College. Guest artist: Australian Arizona, Mesa January 3-February 1 “Sen Maine, Portland through January 7 Woody salt-glaze potter Janet Mansfield. Accommoda sational Art,” national juried exhibition; at Galeria Hughes and Kazuko Matthews, pottery; and Blythe tions can be arranged with potters. Contact: New Mesa, 155 N. Center St. Collins-Kretschmer, Laurie Eisenhardt, Sandi Zealand Society of Potters, “Canterbury ’86,” Box California, Los Angelesthrough January 8 Fenton, Constance Harper, Georgia Landau, Sheila 29-208, Christchurch. Akio Takamori, Carmen Collell, Linda Gun-Rus- Ruen and John Tormey, dolls; at Maple Hill Gal sell, Wally Keeler, Rita Duvall, Neil Williams, lery, 367 Fore St. Paul Dresang, James Lawton and Mark Pharis, Maryland, BaltimoreJanuary 19-February 28 Conferences “Rituals of Tea: An International Invitational”; at “20th Anniversary Exhibition,” an invitational show California, Oakland June 4-7 “Art/Culture/ Garth Clark Gallery, 170 S. La Brea. including work by Doug Baldwin, Lois Hennessey Future: American Craft ’86,” organized by the California, PomonaJanuary 6-February 7 and Harvey Sadow; plus a national juried bien American Craft Council, will include workshops, “Ink & Clay XIII,” regional juried exhibition; at nial; at the Courtyard Galleries, Baltimore City demonstrations, films, exhibitions and tours. ACC the California State Polytechnic University, 3801 Hall, 100 N. Holliday St. has announced an open call for papers. For details, W. Temple Ave. Massachusetts, Lexington January 7-25 consult CM November Itinerary. Entry deadline California, San Diegothrough February 23 “Inspiration and Influences,” ceramic exhibition; for summaries: January 15. Send a self-addressed, “Water: Liquid of Life,” artifacts documenting water at Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, 130 Wal stamped envelope to: ACC Forum Program Chair, rituals in the ancient Americas; at the San Diego tham St. c/o V.P. for Academic Affairs, California College Museum of Man, 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park. Massachusetts, Northamptonthrough January 5 of Arts and Crafts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland, Cal California, San Franciscothrough January 21 Sixth annual “A Tea Party”; at Pinch Pottery, 150 ifornia 94618. For further conference information, “The Art of Wine in East Asia,” includes Shang Main St. contact: Susan Harkavy or Patricia Greenhill, dynasty wine vessels, Han period wine cups and Michigan, Detroit through January 5 “Italian American Craft Council, 45 W. 45 St., New York, jugs, Tang and Song dynasty ewers from China; Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello,” New York 10036; or call: (212) 869-9425. sake bottles from Japan; and wine storage con includes terra-cotta sculpture; at the Detroit In Louisiana, New Orleans April 3-9 The Na tainers from Korea; at the Asian Art Museum of stitute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave. tional Art Education Association annual conven San Francisco, Golden Gate Park. January 10-February 1 “Platter Show”; at Pe- tion; at the Hyatt Hotel. Contact: The National through March 9 “The Lure of the Past: Clas wabic Pottery, 10126 Jefferson Ave. Art Education Association, 1916 Association Dr., sical Art from California Collections,” includes January 11-February 15 “Teapot Invitational Reston, Virginia 22091; or call: (703) 860-8000. Greek amphoras and pottery dating from the eighth 1986”; at the Detroit Gallery of Contemporary Maryland, TowsonFebruary 14-15 “Clay in century B.C. to the fifth century A.D.; at the M.H. Crafts, 301 Fisher Bldg. the East III,” a symposium at Towsqn State Uni de Young Memorial Museum, Golden Gate Park. New Hampshire, Concordthrough January 18 versity and the Maryland Institute of Art, will California, San Pedro through January 12 “Unearthing New England’s Past: The Ceramic include slide lectures, demonstrations and art ex “Contemporary Crafts”; at the Angels Gate Cul Evidence”; at the New Hampshire Historical So hibitions. Guest artists: Ken Little and John Ro- tural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St. ciety, 30 Park St. loff. Open to the public. Contact: Thomas Supen- Colorado, DenverJanuary 18-April 13 New York, Brooklynthrough February 3 sky, Towson State University, University Relations, “Regional Artists in the Permanent Collection”; at “Contemporary American Prints and Ceramics,” Towson 21204; or call: (301) 321-3624; or Ron the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14 Ave. includes works by Rudy Autio, Christina Bertoni, Lang (301) 669-9200. Connecticut, Greenwich January 22-March 1 Judy Chicago, Rick Dillingham, Ken Ferguson, New York, New YorkFebruary 13-15 The Stanley Andersen, Sandy Simon, Linda Schuster- Maija Grotell, Wayne Higby, Gertrud and Otto 1986 annual meeting of the College Art Associa man and Sandra Wyner, “Design and Pattern”; at Natzler, Edwin Scheier and Beatrice Wood; at the tion of America. For details, consult CM October the Elements Gallery, 14 Liberty Way. Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy. Itinerary. Contact: College Art Association of D.C., Washington through March 9 “The New York, New Yorkthrough January 10 America, 149 Madison Ave., New York 10016; or Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years Nicole Johns and Geoffrey Swindell, “British Pot call: (212) 889-2113. of Private Patronage and Art Collecting,” includes tery”; at Graham Gallery, 1014 Madison Ave. Texas, San AntonioMarch 19-22 The an Meissen, Sevres, Chelsea, Derby and Chinese through January 11 Enzo Borgini, majolica tiles; nual conference of the National Council on Ed porcelain; at the National Gallery of Art, Fourth and Carmen Collell, burnished earthenware ves ucation for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). For de St. at Constitution Ave., NW. sels. January 14-February 1 Akio Takamori, tails, consult CM October Itinerary. Contact: Steve Florida, Key West through January 18 sculpture; and Henry Pim, vessels; at Garth Clark Reynolds, Division of Art and Design, University “Crackpots,” includes work by Perri Halevy, WayneGallery, 24 W. 57 St. of Texas, San Antonio 78285; or call: (512) 537- Hawxhurst, Bob Mele, Gloria Shaw and Trie; at through February 16 “High Styles: Twentieth- 4867 (home), or 691-4382 (school). the Greenpeace Gallery, Florida Keys Community Century American Design”; at the Whitney Mu College. seum of American Art, Madison Ave. at 75th St. Georgia, Gainesville through February 1 New York, Rochesterthrough January 11 Solo Exhibitions “Pieceworks,” national competition of works in “Small Works National ’85”; at Zaner Gallery, 302 California, Los AngelesJanuary 11-29 Judith spired by quilts; at Georgia Mountain Crafts, 311 N. Goodman St. Salomon, bowl forms; at Garth Clark Gallery, 170 Green St., SE. Ohio, Columbus January 13-February 10 S. La Brea. Hawaii, Kaneohe through January 31 “Ban Kathleen Cerveny, Michael Chipperfield, William California, Mill ValleyJanuary 13-February Chiang: Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age”; at the Hunt, Ban Kajitani, Robert Mihaly, George 15 Paul Soldner; at Susan Cummins Gallery, 32B Hawaii Loa College. Whitten and David Williamson, “Ceramics by 7”; Miller Ave. Illinois, Chicago January 10-February 11 at the Columbus Technical Institute, Educational D.C., Washington through January 9 Rob “Afro-American Images,” includes clay figures by Resources Center, 550 E. Spring St. Barnard, wood-fired functional ware from a tra Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson; at Esther Saks Ohio, FindlayJanuary 13-February 14 ditional Japanese anagama; at Anton Gallery, 415 Gallery, 311 W. Superior St. “Findlay College Art Faculty Exhibitions,” in- E. Capitol St., SE. Illinois, Highland Park through January 16 Please Turn to Page 58 January 1986 17
Suggestions from our readers Warp-Free Sinks the handle, and wrap the frame with tape for a more comfortable Handmade sinks with built-in overflow drains may warp due to hand hold. —Ellie Hudovernick, Cascade, Wis. the “spine” effect of the clay tube attached to one side of the bowl. Refractory Mix An excellent refractory patching and forming mix for kilns can be made by adding enough colloidal silica and/or sodium silicate to used and broken pieces of Kaowool boards and blankets to form a thick, pasty mash. This mash can then be formed plastically, molded or used as a patch. It has excellent green strength when dried, fired strength, low shrinkage, and is very compatible with most refractories when used as a patch. Be sure to wear gloves when working with it. —Jerry Weinstein, New Milford, N.J.
Instead, fabricate the overflow drain by leaving only a short clay Stacking Plates Efficiently protrusion on the outside top of the form and the outside of the To save kiln space when bisquing plates, platters and certain flat drain. Connect the two with automobile heater hose and hose clamps. pieces, cut 1 X3/4-inch spacers of refractory fiber to evenly distribute —Peter Chartrand, Bisbee, Ariz. weight so ware can be stacked efficiently. Three spacers are placed
Strong Cut-off Wire For a real handy cut-off tool, modify a hacksaw frame—the ones being imported from China right now are especially good. They are heavy duty, adjustable and painted a wrought-iron black to prevent
equally under the foot of the first plate on the shelf, and in exactly the same position (as with kiln posts on shelving) between the top surface of each plate and the foot of the next. This method creates three “columns” of support which assure rusting. Hook up a guitar string to the connections for the blade, that weight is transferred from the top of each plate to its foot in using the wing nut to tighten the wire whenever necessary, cut off Please Turn to Page 64
January 1986 19 20 Ceramics Monthly Comment In Search of Pottery Masters by Ersatz Soubriquet
Passing through Santa Clara, I looked utes. The plane landed at 7 P.M., but up my friend Hiroshi Yukida, the “com- my body told me it was 3 A.M. pu-potter” I told you about a couple of We cleared airport customs and made years ago [see “Technological Thrills” in it to our hotel by 9 P.M. Jet lag was the October 1983 CM]. It had been some upon me, but Hiroshi wanted to go out time since I had seen him or had an and celebrate. So after a light dinner, we opportunity to talk to his computer about spent what seemed like an eternity aesthetic trends in ceramics. drinking beer and sake. The computer ushered me in to find The next morning I ventured forth Hiroshi in a frenzy, packing and un (weakened by jet lag and a monster of packing his bags. “I’m going to Japan,” a hangover) to solve the mysteries of he said, his voice becoming peaceful and Oriental ceramics. In Hiroshi’s Zen ordered, though the piles of clothes and pottery book, the Kyoto area had been official papers were not. “I have decided mentioned often. So I took a taxi to the to visit Osaka,” he continued, “to redis station and boarded a train for Kyoto. cover my heritage and enrich my aes On arrival I opened my Japanese thetics.” phrase booklet to learn how to ask di It sounded so right. As the computer rections to the potteries. It had every reminded Hiroshi to take his tooth thing from “Resturnto wa doko desu ka?” brush, I picked up a copy of Zen Pottery and “Basu wa doko desu ka?” to “Benjo and Its American Roots and soon longed wa doko desu ka?” But nowhere did it to find “Yakimono and the masters who explain how to find one’s way to the keep this ancient art form alive.” I could potteries. All I could recall from reading see myself going to the master, sitting about the Zen masters was that pottery for tea and discussing the way the in had something to do with yaki. So I looked teraction of the clay with the fire in the lost and waited for someone to help. giant noborigama made the true nature “Sumimasen...” of the clay appear. Okay, I thought. These strangers were I decided to ask Hiroshi if I might willing to help, and I could use the little join him on his journey. Though much Japanese I had learned from looking at of his sojourn was arranged, he saw no the phrase booklet plus the mystical power reason why we could not travel together. of ceramics in the East to communicate. At 11 P.M., I called Japan to arrange I realized that all the “where is” ques an entry visa. Three calls later (at 1 A.M.) tions had had whatever it was you were I had that clearance. By 5 A.M., I had looking for followed by “wa doko desu booked a seat on the same flight as Hi ka.” So, while making circling motions roshi. At 7:30 A.M., the plane left San with my hands, I tried, “Yaki wa doko Francisco International for Osaka, with desu ka?” stops in Anchorage and Tokyo. The mental telepathy worked. Their During the flight, Hiroshi questioned eyes lit up and they said,“0 so desu the reasons that cultural interchange was yakisoba! Hai. Hai. ” They calmly turneds so important, while I talked about how me around, facing me toward the stairs. I would sit with the masters, drink green Then on a scrap of paper, they started tea and learn the mysteries of the ages. to draw a map. Because I was in the I also ate two meals, one snack and five East, they felt that the same mystical bags of peanuts, went to the restroom powers which allowed them to under six times, saw two feature-length films, stand my question would enable me to filled out entry cards and slept 20 min Continued January 1986 21 22 Ceramics Monthly Comment iemashta. Okini” I realized that even if this master would not see me, another understand what they said as they drew. might. So bowing to the woman and “Dozo.” They handed me a map with a making a circling motion with my free neatly letteredkanji —surely the sign for hand in front of my face, I said, “Yaki...wa the master’s pottery. doka desu ka?” After a moment, she said, Excitement mounted as I arrived at a “Hai, hai. Yakitori.” building with a similar sign, then walked Her map took me to Robata-Yaki, as through a cloth which had been cut ver she called it. Now I was getting some tically and hung from the top of the door where. Entering the place, I realized there to about 3 feet off the ground. Inside, had been a misunderstanding. It looked everyone was bowing and saying, “Ir- like a bar. To check, I said, “Yakitori?” rashimase” Having been in the country The man behind the bar answered, “Hai, for over five hours, I no longer felt like hai” He may have nodded and said a tourist, and instantly bowed and re something else, but there had to be a peated, “Irrashimase.” With a quaint mistake. Turning to look around I said, motion to cover her mouth, one smiling “I think I should go!” To which he re woman led me to a small area with a plied, “Hai, hai. Go yakitori.” Within platform on which were tatami mats, seconds I was holding a Robata-Yaki bag cushions and a small table. I sat down containing another plastic bag which had and removed my shoes—other shoes were been taped shut with five chicken shish visible at the end of the narrow aisle kebobs wrapped in clear plastic inside. beside another raised area. Sitting in a park to eat the chicken, I As I sat and waited for my moment mulled over those failed attempts to with the master, someone brought me communicate with master potters. With some tea. I felt I had made it. But to one bite came the vision of the word for make sure, I repeated what the people pottery—but the chicken was so good at the station had said. “Yakisoba.” It that I didn’t realize it was there until sounded somewhat different than what only a few letters remained. “Namo. I had read two days earlier. Or was it Mono. Nome...” Something like that. three days? The International Date Line Standing up, I approached the first always confuses me. At least I only cross person who came by. He was shocked the dateline occasionally. Leap years and by my frantic babbling:“Yakinoni? No- daylight savings time get me regularly. niyaki? Nomoyaki?” Then, between bites When the woman heard yakisoba, she of chicken, I blurted out, “Doko desu bowed and disappeared. Now she knew ka?” I wanted to talk about pottery. A few The man knew exactly what I meant. minutes later she returned, bowed and “Okonomiyaki, desu ne,” he said slowly. placed a bowl of noodles on the table. I That sounded more like it. A map was looked at the bowl then at her and asked, quickly drawn and I was off. What I “Yakisoba?” She nodded and said, “Hai, found was a pizzalike thing filled with hai. ” all sorts of meat, squid and vegetables. Glazed with earth colors, the bowl had After ten hours walking around Kyo a simple grace. Obviously, they wished to looking for master potters and only for me to experience the nature of the seeing ceramics under the food I was bowl by placing food in it. Sitting there eating, I returned to our hotel in Osaka. carefully examining the bowl, I decided Having eaten yakisoba, yakitori, okon to eat the noodles as the master had not omiyaki, sukiyaki, teriyaki, tocoyaki, yaki arrived yet and eating had been one of mochi and several other dishes the names my majors in college. of which I cannot remember, I needed At least an hour passed. Perhaps I to let my stomach settle down. had offended the master by spilling noo Hiroshi met me at the room. Excit dles on my tie. I would leave. Walking edly, he talked about his great day find to the door, I noticed a stack of bowls ing new roots for his pottery. “I saw the in a cabinet and thought that by buying latest thing in portable robots for mak one they would know how serious I was ing my pottery away from the studio. about ceramics. I took one bowl off the These microprocessors will have a pow shelf and handed it along with ¥ 10,000 erful effect on the technoceramic aspects to the woman at the front. She took out of miniature microhydraulics, allowing an abacus, moved the beads around, said a truer relationship between the nature something, then wrapped the bowl, put of space for producing work and the ce it into a plastic bag, taped it shut, put ramic realities and subtleties of the Ori that into a box, put that into a bag with ental ceramic aesthetic and cultural the kanji on it and handed it to me with structure. I was so engrossed all day, I my change. forgot to eat. I’m famished. Let’s go out Leaving to the strains of “Arigato goz- for sushi and tempura.” January 1986 23 High Styles at the Whitney
multiplicity of tastes guiding innovative “IN our culture, style is a mark of dis design at any given moment. tinction; it suggests intelligence, talent, “Twentieth-century America,” Lisa originality and glamour. Consequently, Phillips continued, “has seen a succes style is now relentlessly pursued and sion of modernist, vanguard styles, from promoted. This cultural sensitivity has American art nouveau and arts and crafts fostered an unprecedented aestheticizing to art deco, streamlined moderne, bio- of daily life and scrutiny of our sur morphism and pop. But a strong tra roundings. One of the by-products of this ditionalist current—a fondness for pe pursuit has been a growing apprecia riod design and other forms of historical tion—and demand—for good design: good revival—has always flowed alongside the design, contrary to longstanding popular modernist. At different times this pref opinion, need not necessarily be im erence for the past has reinvigorated the ported from Europe,” observed Lisa present, particularly with today’s post Phillips, director of “High Styles” at the modern design, which reconciles histor Whitney Museum of American Art (New ical modes with an extremely advanced York City). For this survey exhibition technological culture. documenting the continual effects of so “Whether precious or disposable, cioeconomic conditions on American de handcrafted or machine made, well-de- sign, approximately 300 examples of signed objects are both art and artifact. handmade and mass-produced ceramics, They constitute a microcosm of Amer furniture, graphics, textiles and small ican cultural attitudes, a symbolic lan appliances were selected. Displayed guage through which we define our chronologically, the examples reflect “the selves and are, in turn, defined.”
Henry Chapman Mercer earthenware panel, 25 inches in height, made in 1903 at his Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Earthenware vase, 6½ inches in height, thrown and altered, with ribboned strap Louis Comfort Tiffany semiporcelain vase, Above Newcomb College Pottery handles and decoration, by eccentric potter 10V4 inches in height, produced by Tiffany 121/2-inch earthenware vase, glazed and George Ohr, Biloxi, Mississippi, circa Studios, New York, ca. 1905-19. painted, made circa 1904 in New Orleans. 1900-10. 24 CERAMICS MONTHLY Photos: Richard Goodbody and courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum Art
Artus Van Briggle vase, 17½ inches in height, earthenware, produced in 1904 at his Colorado Springs pottery. January 1986 25 12th Functional Ceramics Exhibition
“plasticity” completely and spoiled me punk posters. Lozenges appeared in in Conceivedas a showcase for func forever, possibly only ever equaled by creasing spate on clay, necessarily tionally oriented work by well- and less- Lantz clay in Nova Scotia. From Wales sweeping diagonally. A pastel surface, a known artists/potters, the annual there came the unctuous T material, a handful of these, a check to Mr. Duncan “Functional Ceramics” exhibition at chunky, plastic, textural delight. Grayand many sighed as they discovered the Ohio’s College of Wooster has featured kinds of rubber from the filter presses therapeutic value of repeat decoration. approximately 3000 objects by 350 pot at Stoke-on-Trent also passed through At times it may have felt so good that it ters from 45 states during the past 11 my hands. Clay and cousins of clay werefelt a little bit like art itself. years. In this 12th show, the 20 partic a family I felt I had already met some For others—and there are always oth ipants presented a variety of forms rang what. ers—that kind of precise image is not ing from cups, pitchers and teapots to It was the attraction of the overseas the way to tell the world about yourself. decorative jars and platters. North American materials, the ones that The precise way lies not in the drawing “These people, who prefer potting to could give coverings to these clays, that but in the piece itself—the throwing, the writing, all take time to give thought to began to capture my interest. The very ribbing, the definition of shoulder, lugs, a question we present to them, and names of feldspars long gone—Buck lip, belly. Surfaces swirl semistrictly with through their statements enable us to ingham, Oxford (strange now to think copper matts, carbonates making pur know and understand them better,” ob of it, for these were hardly American ple, red and yellow mantles. Regal sur served exhibition coordinator Phyllis names)—and the slips—Albany, Bar faces for regal shapes. Yet others have Clark. “This year the question ‘What is nard, Blackbird. Leach and Rhodes gone back in past Oriental time, seeking your primary concern while designing linking common reading minds over not so much original form but the ex your work—surface treatment, form or simple melts, the color of earth and sky, perience. Pilgrims have journeyed to Ja function?’ brought excellent replies. I the flash of fire—Cone 10, the clay and pan, Korea and Thailand, returning even was especially taken by one statement: glaze equalizer. now to fire long hollow tubes half buried ‘Decorating the surface is the romance And time, being what it was, passed in the ground, creating events that de of pottery for me.’ I am sure many of by. The potters and their public became mand their whole bodies and part of their the others share this feeling, but some restless and sought something more than souls; days to split wood, days to pack, considered form of primary concern, and a two-component glaze dip, a speckled days to fire. A sacrificial act on several others designated function of utmost im belly and the mark of a bamboo brush. levels, a grand commitment, one final portance. They would all agree with the Clay color began to change to gray, to focus of flame gives them surfaces of potter who stated ‘...the functional pot gray-white; electric kilns regained their molten ash, barbarous clinker and cracked has always been an exciting challenge....5 respectability. Spectrum color appeared exquisite clay. This challenge obviously is to be able to and people said it was all to do with the Being Oriental, spiritual and high successfully combine all three—form, energy crisis, that we had to fire lower fired, and perceived only hastily, it might function and surface treatment—to pro in order to survive as a planet. (There feel that the age of Yanagi and Leach duce work that pleases the hand, the eye will always be reasons while crowds had returned. But no, for this is merely and the heart.” gather.) But the bigger truth was that one of Japan’s influences on the West. we had to change anyway, like lengths It is very much a regional country, of The following essay was written by of skirt and hair. On this so-publicized fering Ninsei and Tomimoto pattern in Canadian potter John Chalke, who is continent, other countries in the ceramic one area, for example, Arakawa and presently researching and writing in world could not help but notice with Kaneshige (but so differently) defining central Ohio.—Ed. amusement and shock as celadon changed kiln and glaze drip in another—several into acrylic into enamel into gold into glazes for some, no glazes for others. decal into airbrush. Plastic, neon, en America itself is still a regional coun Surfaces vironment. In the countryside, the try, both creating its own indigenous re When I first came to these North speckles continued, and spars and ash gionalism from grass roots up and also American shores 16 years ago, it wasn’t still melted like mountain streams. Back importing other cultures into specific the clays here that much interested me. in the city where people thronged to areas. Many ceramic tributaries, fresh I already knew of superior kaolins, the gether, clays seemed to grow purer yet, ets and deep cuts flow side by side to tourmaline phenomenon and a myriad lines and images grew cleaner, and color ward the same end. Not all show un of ball clays from Dorset and Cornwall. more defined. There came a raku revival derstanding of their origins, or even seem There was a large mass of red earth and salt was rediscovered. Surface, sur to care, but they flow comfortably never enware in Devon that defined the word face. Potters looked at painting trends, theless. 26 CERAMICS MONTHLY Photos: Ron Forth, Kathleen McManus Zurko
Porcelain cups, 5 inches high, by Lee Rexrode, Worcester, Massachusetts. “Function has an impact on what shape will emerge, but it does not have authority over form *
“The Conjurer,” 15 inches in diameter, stoneware, by Linda Collins Chapman, Boulder, Colorado. “Surface treatment is the most prevalent factor; however, so much time is spent carving each piece, the form must be correct and strong to begin with ” Left “The Collector9 inches in diameter, multi fired porcelain, by Barbara Tipton, Powell, Ohio. January 1986 27 Steven Donegan’s Clay Paintings
Approaching clay as a medium for Ceramic objects, caught up in a sudden painting, Steven composes tileworks us whirlwind, some breaking as they col ing underglazes for studies of color and lide, fill the eight large panels exhibited light. Slabs and shards are sometimes at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia attached to bring the image into the third through November 2. Frozen in that dimension. The intent is a different kind moment of turmoil, the imagery is a of still life, one apart from traditional metaphor for the social malaise of our painting. times. “It’s that ability to control time, fate and events that interests me as an “Turmoil in the Tearoom” 43 inches in image maker,” commented Pennsylvania height, underglazed tile panel (detail left), artist Steven Doneean. bv Steven Done pan, Philadelphia.
28 CERAMICS MONTHLY Slip Casting: Studio Tool of the ’80s by Nancy LaPointe
hibit a defensive self-consciousness about recent shows at Pinch Pottery in North Though once looked down upon as the their work, most voice the now com ampton, Massachusetts, and Conver mass-production tool of industry and the monly held feeling that choice of tech gence in New York City. —Ed. mainstay of ceramic hobby shops, slip nique or material is ultimately irrelevant casting has found a place alongside the to the work's quality. Molds are no longer merely the sterile slab roller and the potter’s wheel in many Demonstrating how mainstream slip- mothers of the factory product. The cre of today's clay studios. In hindsight, the cast ceramics have become, such works ative potential of slip casting has been purists doubtless should have known that are routinely accepted in galleries, juried met with great enthusiasm, and plaster the problem wasn't with method, but exhibitions and fairs—markets which molds have given birth to a rich variety rather that classic objections stemmed from soundly excluded cast work just a few of studio ceramics across the nation. aesthetic differences: industrial and hob years ago. Motivation for slip casting falls into by slip casters typically served the cause The recognition of slip casting is a three categories: a pristine canvas for the of common public taste or fashion, not good sign for the field. Another limita painter or illustrator; an unlimited se art or craft. tion has been removed, another door lection of interesting parts for the sculp But today\ potters increasingly are ig opened for exploration of a process too tor or designer; and a reliable produc noring the past prejudice and stigma as long the off-limits domain of industry. tion method for the business/craftsperson. sociated with casting in favor of exploit The fields of art, craft and even indus Ceramic sculptor Ron Fondaw, Miami, ing the aesthetic possibilities the process trial design stand to benefit. approaches slip casting, trying “not to affords. Though many slip casters do ex Illustrating this article are objects from alter the way a piece looks after I remove
“Six Levels of Heat ,” 11 inches in height, slip-cast porcelain, with glazes and luster, by Charles Fager, Tampa, Florida. January 1986 29 “Satellites ” porcelain tea set, with brushed polychrome glazes, by Dorothy Hafner, New York City. it from the mold. I look forward to the terial and context into another medium. swer for every ceramist. Suitability is interaction between slips and plaster. To The integrity of the original object re judged by whether the form can be made clean it up, to make it pristine and newly mains in the slip-cast object and at the simpler by another process, whether the technological is contrary to the piece.” same time could be viewed as a new investment of time or money is worth Within this concept of respect for the form.” pursuing and whether there is someone mold, Dorothy Hafner, New York City, The process has a different signifi willing to do repetitive casting and trim remarks that she tried “to exploit the cance for Nancy Durant, Kingston, New ming. Professional mold makers like Dan process in a different way by designing York. “I used to handbuild everything Mehlman and firms like Clone Casting shapes for casting that could only be made and it took much more time. That made have built a good business in New York with that process, and could never be each piece seem more precious. When City, betting that the heart and soul of thrown on a wheel or slab constructed. it came time to paint the surfaces, every artists lie not in fabricating but in de This way I try to keep the resultant forms mark seemed crucial. In turn, the sur signing and decorating. A growing de appropriate to the process by which they face design seemed to lack spontaneity partment store market substantiates the are created.” or seemed forced. With slip casting, it need for bridging the gap between in In contrast to the multiple-copy pre is as though each piece is a sheet of pa dustry and studio. cept of mass production, some potters per from a big pad. If I make designs like slip casting for the flexibility it af or marks that I don’t like, I can throw fords. Joseph Detwiler, Fredericksburg, that piece away because I have more like Virginia, has “developed a library of it.” Fear of Molds molds of simple, rational forms that lend Many potters now working with slip themselves almost exclusively to casting. casting had to overcome prejudices. Henry by Anne C. Ray The assemblage of these parts then be Cavanagh, Lomontville, New York, re Fear of molds is a common malady among comes improvisation.” Stephen Fabrico, members when he “tried working in potters. I used to be inflicted with it, and Bloomington, New York, finds slip cast commercially prepared low-fire slip and called myself a “purist,” a “traditional ing “gives the freedom to experiment with glazes. The shiny, bright and light ist,” or even a “true” potter. I worked and assemble the same form in many weight ware was strictly five and dime. with some competence on the wheel and variations.” And “not being limited to a I felt my artistic input had been reduced with slabs; realizing the infinitude of what shape with a central axis gives a fresh to the level of Woolworth’s stockroom. could be learned within these bound plane to explore and experience,” ac But the ability to produce a month’s vol aries, I had no drive to expand my ho cording to Don Montano, Silver Spring, ume in a few days had its attraction! I rizons. Basically, I was just ignorant and Maryland. now mix my own Cone 10 slip and glaz afraid. To others, the mold’s power to record es, and feel I have an object that com I also used to believe many of the myths found objects is paramount. As Martha bines the production and commercial about casting: it is easy; it is always the Holt, Cambridge Springs, Pennsylva advantages of slip casting with the aes cheapest way to produce a piece; and it nia, puts it, “This process enables me to thetic qualities only found in porcelain.” is noncreative. Then I moved to New translate an object from its familiar ma Obviously, slip casting is not the an York City and decided to have a child. 30 CERAMICS MONTHLY White earthenware basket, 11¾ inches in height, slip cast “G Loves Cup Two * slip-cast porcelain cup with slip-dipped work and assembled, by Sandra Wyner, Hinesburg, Vermont. gloves, Plexiglas case, by Joan Marmarellis, Tampa, Florida.
Porcelain tea set and tray, approximately 9 inches square, by Peter Saenger, Newark, Delaware.
January 1986 31 Still ignorant of what casting was all Most bodies can still be radically altered work, I concentrate on designing and about, I saw molds as the easiest and when removed from the mold, so themes realizing the pieces as plaster models. A fastest way to be able to afford city life with variations are always emerging. curious reversal—after many years of with a child. I read lots of hobbyist man Unfortunately, it is not just the neg making ceramic sculpture and glaze uals, talked to everyone I could find who ative myths about casting that are totally painting, and being so involved in di had ever cast slip, and accepted an false. Casting is not always the best rectly handling clay and glaze and kilns, amazingly great amount of assistance method and it is certainly not always the I now want to deal with just pure form from Geoffry Meek, a master mold- least expensive method of production. in plaster. When I’ve finished the mold, maker. My company, Clone Casting and But whether a ceramist desires growth I’m basically through with the piece, and Pottery, slowly evolved. We produce fin in the number of pieces produced or I’d prefer to have someone else produce ished promotional works, other artists’ simply in creative options to use, casting the ceramic ware. work through the bisque stage, and re should be considered. There is such a marvelous bag of tricks productions for the Metropolitan Mu for creating form in plaster: turning, seum of Art. carving, milling, running and casting. In Somewhere along the way toward the process of casting a succession of riches, which still elude me, I gained a A Love of Plaster plaster waste molds and casts, there is sincere respect for the process of casting. by Daniel Mehlman a unique opportunity to work back and Slip casting is another technique, the forth between positive and negative forms. basics of which can be mastered with To me, the most exciting thing about Just as I love the spontaneity and vig some ease, but the limits of its potential slip-cast ceramics is not ceramics at all, or of handbuilding and throwing, I now never reached. A mold can be part of but plaster. equally prize the precision, refinement mass production or simply one of an art I come from a fine arts/ceramics and focus of working in plaster, and the ist’s many tools, like a knife. An artist background (B.F.A., Rhode Island School smooth integrity of slip-cast ware. might choose to tear clay by hand on one of Design; M.A., California State Uni piece and use the clean cut of a knife on versity, Fullerton), but am now a free another, yet no one seriously says the lance plaster model maker. In recent knife cut made a piece less creative. Sim years, my studio has become a full-time No Easy Way Out ilarly, a mold can be turned into a tool. plaster shop—I’ve given away my glaze I enjoy designing pieces to be cast. materials and put my kiln in storage. I by Suzanne L. Rafferty Some forms are more successful than do many kinds of plaster work, most of Casting is no easy way out. Casting itself others and certain surface designs are it related to ceramics: prototypes and must be timed to the second if a thin most effective. However, my greatest models for designers and the ceramic in piece is desired. Humidity is a total di pleasure is in using cast pieces as build dustry, production molds for potters and saster. A piece must be quite damp to ing blocks; to combine, alter, and play small production shops, block and cases carve the rim, so release time is vital. A with the forms. I often try out several for larger production projects, and a va mold will only last for approximately 20 clays—from terra cotta to porcelain—in riety of commissioned sculpture and castings. Cleaning and sanding off seams the same mold. Some molds are usable modeling projects. on brittle, thin pieces are time consum for both slip casting and impressions. When I do get a chance to do my own ing and nerve wracking. Firing is more Left Porcelain place setting, by Frances Lee Hemin way, West Simsbury, Connecticut. Far left “Slip Disc Vase, ” 18 inches in height, limited-edition cast porcelain, with opaque glaze, by Charles Nalle, Wilmington, Delaware. Left “ D’ T-pot,” slip-cast porcelain, approximately 8 inches in height, by Charles Nalle.
32 CERAMICS MONTHLY Above "Brooklyn Bridge Centennial” (licensed as an official Below Porcelain bowl, approximately 6 inches in height, souvenir), 5 inches in height, slip-cast earthenware, by Daniel patterned by colored slip painted in the mold before casting, with Mehlman, Dobbs Ferry, New York. glass attachments, by Kathy Erteman, Benicia, California.
January 1986 33 Slip-cast whiteware platter; 13V4 inches long, by Sandra Wyner. exacting as these very thin pieces love ferior work, with complete loss of aes It should be kept in mind that these to warp. Because casting is still quite thetic sensibilities in extreme cases. Per preventive-medicine techniques reflect new in this country, there is very little haps the “American Clay Club” could my personal philosophy as regards mold technical material available; one learns start a “Molds Anonymous” chapter. making and slip casting, and the reader by trial and error after error after error. Some of the preventive-medicine tech would be well advised to formulate his niques I use to combat mold intoxication or her own philosophy and correspond while continuing to flirt with the germs ing set of techniques to ward off mold of the disease (which infest all plaster intoxication. Remember, one cannot be Reflections of a Former molds and deflocculated slips) are as fol too wary of falling victim to this dread Slip-Casting Addict lows: stalker of aesthetic sensibilities and, if I 1) In my early slip-casting days, allhave saved one ceramist from its clutches by Richard T. Nothin of my molds were made from found or by writing this timely expose, then that Although I make extensive use of the store-bought objects. Soon my work is reward enough. processes of plaster mold making and demonstrated tremendous abilities as a ceramic slip casting in my work as a moldmaker, but said little about my ceramic sculptor, for me the mold is abilities as a sculptor. (I suppose that nothing more than another tool, to be this revelation marked the period when Get Obsessed used only as a device to save time and I first discovered and self-diagnosed mold increase efficiency. Extreme discretion intoxication.) Now I always create my by Riki Moss must be exercised in the decision to use own original prototypes, or models, from I was born in Brooklyn. After a B.A. in molds, for the various processes of ce which I fabricate a mold. In this way, I psychology from the University of Chi ramic casting are so readily mastered and feel that I retain artistic control (and cago, I took what was meant to be a provide such a quick and easy means of artistic responsibility) for the final ob break from real life, but instead found producing objects that one can easily be ject; I remain the sculptor, and not just clay at the San Francisco Art Institute. come seduced by the sensuous spectacle a borrower of someone else’s three-di- To support the habit, I did these jobs: of deflocculated slip flowing smoothly mensional design. case worker, waitress, teacher. In Wood- into the orifice of a pure white plaster 2) I try to alter each casting in a unique stock, New York, I enslaved myself to mold, resulting in the painless birth of way, or to join it to other castings or potter Sylva Hutchins. Later, back in object upon object upon object upon.... handbuilt elements to create a unique New York City, I sang in a rock and roll I myself have become the victim of object. Thus, I can continue to utilize band, the Manhattan Transfer. what I have now come to recognize as fresh ideas, and avoid the “human/fac In 1970 I came to Vermont with “mold intoxication”—a drunken, stu tory syndrome.” Charley Dooley and my German shep porlike captivity to the process of mold 3) I understand plaster from a tech herd and helped start a Summerhill making/slip casting. The symptoms in nical point of view, and have near com school. Years later, I moved my studio clude an increasing appetite for more plete control over it, rather than vice out of there and set up in Readsboro, and more production of gradually in versa. Vermont. Now I live on a long, thin is- 34 CERAMICS MONTHLY Far left “Black Teapot ,” 10 inches in diameter; slip- cast porcelain, with plastic handle, by Uko Morita, Brooklyn. Left “Low Bowl Form,” 19 inches long, whiteware, with under glazes and clear glaze, by Thomas Hubert, Fairview, Pennsylvania. Below aPedestal Flower Vase,” 8 inches in height, cast and assembled porcelain, by Michael Lambert, Santa Cruz, California. d PxTxcbt d clt\ oj CoT\u€T‘£€T\cc € sy rt ti and co
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January 1986 35 land in Lake Champlain with Charley, my work to function, and to be able to convincing technique? And is this piece two dogs and a black cat. sell at a price that is reasonable enough intended to be a one-of-a-kind or a group It’s been a long trip to this island: for use. of multiples? Finally, is the use of these from digging my own clay out of the various techniques pushed to a point of Hudson to buying commercial under- departure from the traditional uses of glazes; from porcelain and a hissing, plaster and slip? As an analogy, print- spitting gas kiln out in an icy field to Duplicity in Casting making and photography make use of low-fire clay and an electric kiln. positive/negative transference, rely But the challenges are still real. There’s by Charles B. Nalle heavily on craft, manipulation of pro more control and clarity. The hours are It is as simple as a mirror, as complex cess, and still have the possibility of an really long. As Coach Bob says, the idea as a Rubik’s Cube. Riddled with par infinite number of multiples. is to get obsessed and stay obsessed. adox, mold making and casting remain in a gray area when it comes to evalu ating their validity as another tool for creative expression. Casting can be a Casting Challenges quintessential exercise in the study of A Means by Karen Kozlow positive/negative relationships, the jux to Moderate Pricing taposition of thought to form with vi by Leon Nigrosh Casting is a challenging process. One sions of mold sections extending beyond word comes to mind above all others: the model into thin air. The technique My pieces are each cast in porcelain, undercuts. I like to get as close to un involves imagination, logic and control glazed, and fired to 2220°F. The molds dercuts as I can, like walking a tight over various materials to achieve a form are original designs made from models rope. I have found there is some shrink that has slipped back and forth from cut in solid plaster on a plaster lathe. age when the slip starts to harden and model to mold to ceramic piece. The luster decoration is airbrushed and at a certain point you can sort of rock Because of a bias against process, one handpainted onto the high-fired glaze the piece out of the mold. You just have might tend to overlook some core issues and then fired at 1285°F. to develop a feel for it. Once the piece pertinent to the techniques and pieces. The majority of my work is one-of- is out, damp and not too firm, you can Look to the source first. What is the a-kind, studio-registered, wheel-thrown cut, punch, slice, and add to it. Some model; does it have integrity? Has mis porcelain lusterware. Because of the times I like to make clay assemblages handling of the various processes oblit complexity and time-consuming in from cast parts. My concerns are for erated or transformed the original idea? volvement inherent in this type of work, interesting form and a surface to paint And if so, to the object’s benefit? Is cast the finished pieces command elevated on that allows freedom of color and tex ing the appropriate process? Can the prices. By using casting techniques, I tural pattern on each piece. I also like object be fabricated by another, more- can still offer pieces that have the same Slip-cast tea set, teapot with dual spout and sandblasted handle, 11 inches in height, by Stephen Fabrico, Bloomington, New York. Above “Diner Butter Dishes,” cast porcelain, each 6 inches in length, brushed with low-fire glazes and lusters, by Henry Cavanagh, Lomontville, New York. Far left “Stacked Crates Teapot (Variation 3),” 6¾ inches in height, cast and assembled stoneware, by Richard T. Notkin, Myrtle Point, Oregon. Left “Amphoras,” 26½ inches in height, slip-cast and assembled porcelain, by Marek Cecula, New York City.
January 1986 37 high-quality materials and finish as my velopment, but which would be a fun ings of candlesticks all quite different individual works, but at a moderate price. damental repeat of a design. Slip casting but related by their being poured from proved to be very successful. exactly the same mold. I made plaster molds for each size plate, Pottery is very human and very phys cup, bowl, etc.; they were the intended ical. We attach all kinds of adjectives to Varying Forms shapes but incomplete. Essentially, the it, which makes it almost breathe. We molds gave me cutting surfaces and basic leave our fingerprints and heartprints all by Frances Lee Heminway dimensions. When slip was poured into over it. It is absolutely essential that my From my beginning, slip casting was a these molds, allowed to set up and then slip-cast porcelain have this same qual conscious design tool as well as a pro drained, the result would be a skin of ity. It is the most troubling aspect of all duction technique for producing func clay, which would first be cut to shape mass-produced techniques, and it is very tional tableware. I was interested in form, in the mold, removed and then hand fin important to remember to keep casting leaving the surfaces to be busied by the ished. So from this process, I got every as a tool and not let it control the clay. food itself. I wanted the dishes to be like piece a little different or a lot different shells, thin, tough, always a little dif as I chose. Furthermore, the amount of ferent and so simple as to be almost ethe handling after being removed from the real. The pot should be equal to but not mold absolutely guaranteed that there A Different Tradition more important than the food or flowers would be a warp and spin to each piece it holds, and I felt that they should pre different from its neighbor, but still within by Jerry Berta sent themselves together, as one. the same basic design grouping. A long time ago I realized that what I I started with press molding and drape An outgrowth of this technique was make are contemporary knickknacks and molds, but these proved just frustrating. the development of slip-cast closed shapes the traditional knickknack is slip cast. I I needed to devise a system which would which could be opened anywhere on just base my cast work on a different give me control over each piece (as themselves, providing endless variations. tradition than a potter who throws or throwing does) at every stage of its de So, for instance, I could develop group handbuilds his or her pieces.
Top Cast and altered vase, 5 inches in height, by Anne C. Ray , Brooklyn. Above “Glub Glub,” approximately 20 inches in diameter, by Tommy Simpson, Washington, Connecticut. Right “Sectioned Spherical Vessel,” 15 inches high, slip-cast and handbuilt whiteware, by Thomas Hubert. 38 CERAMICS MONTHLY
It looks like a war zone. speak in those terms. I was not a production potter in Old Styrofoam coffee cups,the classical sense; my heart was never in it and the pots broken bisqueware, splat reflected that. Directionstered glazes and stains— Never having been one to give up, I tried different the debris from spending a glazes, firing temperatures and new forms until even month in the studio, night tually finding something that suited me—simple forms by JANE GUSTIN and day. And what is it all to paint. Thrown porcelain platters were decorated with Photos: David Egan, for? I ask myself this while black slip. But my handbuilt porcelain collapsed in the Kat Englund I sit in the studio this cold firing. So I started working at lower temperatures. To morning. I am going to ankeep the visually soft feeling of porcelain, I tried col opening—my opening. Itored and white slips covered with a clear glaze, but is the 24th of the month and none of the pots in couldn’t the get the needed sense of immediacy. show existed before the 3rd. Why is it always like this?Then I tried majolica. That was more like painting. I am at the end of a long journey, and no one knowsThe white-glazed I platters looked like stretched canvas left. es. There were still many technical difficulties (pinhol- But to my mind the platters look great for now. ing, In a bloating and crawling) to overcome, but I knew month the flaws will start to surface. Little annoying bitsthis was something that would intrigue me for a long of color will make me wince with pain. It will be time. a relief to ship them out, in the hope that people will seeNow I work with the following terra cotta, rolled into them the way I did when I unstacked the kilns. slabs and formed over plaster hump molds: My work is changing. It is growing in small, scary spurts. Change is always frightening; giving myself over Terra-Cotta Body to creating is very lonely. The solitude is deafening. I (Cone 06-1) bought a tape player so it would be less lonely in the studio. I end up tuning it out while I am working. ButTalc...... 10.0% music helps when I take a break to drink another StyroCedar Heights Goldart Clay...... 20.0 foam cupful of coffee. Cedar Heights Redart Clay 60.0 Once I figured that each person must develop an inA. P. Green Fireclay...... 10.0 dividual way of working and should not rely upon others 100.0% for direction. Yet the more consideration given toAdd: my Barium Carbonate...... 0.5% situation, the more I felt that I was being unfair. There Grog...... 20-40.0% were some very strong role models, especially whenBatches I are mixed dry, then stored in barrels and added was first starting out, so it is only right to pass alongas needed to reclaimed clay. some of the lessons I have learned. The hump molds are made from plaster mixed in a While at the Kansas City Art Institute, I studied with 3:2 ratio—1.5 pounds plaster to 1 pound water—and wonderful teachers. Ken Ferguson, by his strength ofpoured into a square, oval or rectangular form. The set character, forced me to realize that one must scratch plaster is then carved with a knife, a Surform plane and and claw because nothing is ever handed to you. Victoran ax head. I hack and scrape until achieving a particular Babu taught me to have a strong sense of self before form.one This is the only way I can truly feel the form take can make pots that are uniquely one’s own. Jacquie Rice,shape and develop. by example, taught me that a woman working in clayThe bisqueware is glazed with the following tin-based can be taken seriously as an artist. majolica recipe: Out of school, I felt as if my world had collapsed. I had nothing, no money, no studio—just what I had learned and a diploma. It was time to make some choices. White Majolica Glaze I sought graduate school, but my work was not yet strong (Cone 06-04) enough. It was very frustrating to have something toTin say, Oxide...... 9.0% yet have no slides to prove I should be given a chance.Frit 3124 (Ferro)...... 60.0 After a few years of teaching at a craft center, I was Kona F-4 Feldspar...... 16.0 hired to teach ceramics and weaving at Choate Rosemary Nepheline Syenite...... 6.0 Hall, a prep school in Connecticut. There I worked, Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 9-0 saved money and dreamed of a studio of my own. When 100.0% my former brother-in-law, Chris Gustin, graduated from Add: Yellow Ocher 0.4% Alfred University, we set up a studio in Guilford, Con Bentonite...... 30% necticut. The plan was to work there a few years, get some good slides, then reapply to grad schools. ButMetallic I oxides and Mason stains mixed with 50-70% became so involved in my work that I didn’t wantFerro to frit 3124 are brushed over this warm white glaze. stop. Graduate school felt like an interruption in myThe frit amount varies because of the varying refractory direction. properties of the colorants. The first two years in the studio were fairly horrible. My production ware was so bad that it is painfiil to reenPortfolio coverJane Gustin at her studio in Guilford, counter. I had this dream of becoming a country potter;Connecticut. not just any country potter, but one like Shoji Hamada. This must be a particular Kansas City Art Institute dream Right Majolica platter, 22 inches in length, terra cotta because I have since met several recent graduates whodraped over a hump mold.
A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio
I wanted to use the oxthe wall? Or is it in the back room? Is it promoted? Why ides and stains like a paint hasn’t anything sold in six months? When great distances er uses paint, layering and are involved, many of these questions are unlikely to be scratching the colors until answered adequately, but they are often on my mind. they begin to relate to each These pots are my life, not stock in a store. How I am other. I spend my free time perceived by others is by my work; this is what is im drawing and sketching portant, not the sales. My feeling of self-worth does not from nature. Observing come from sales; that is only a welcome bonus. It comes how mass and color relate from the process of making things. in space, how everything Making pots answers a need in me. I learn from each moves in harmony is a nevcycle-—not only visual lessons, but also that I can suc er-ending thrill. It is ex cessfully finish something I start. That I can continue citing to try to translate thethe cycle is the best lesson. power of nature onto theRainer Maria Rilke, a poet born in Prague in 1875, Terra cotta platter; with page (or platter). I don’t wrote the following in a small volume Letterscalled to fritted oxides and stains mean hurricanes and tor a Young Poet: “You ask whether your verses are good. on majolica base glaze, nadoes, but the flow ofYou ask me. You have asked others before. You send 23 inches long. trees past a hill and be them to magazines. You compare them to other poems, yond the sky. In using maand you are disturbed when certain editors reject your jolica, I found a chance toefforts. Now (since you have allowed me to advise you) explore these ideas in clay. By keeping the forms simpleI beg you to give up all that. You are looking outward, and direct, I can use color, its brightness and its density and that above all you should not do now. Nobody can to cause constant motion. counsel and help you, nobody. There is only one single The platter has been a particularly satisfying form, butway. Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids working in this large format (30 inches across) presents you write: find out whether it is spreading out its roots some technical difficulties. Everything must be carefully in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to timed or it is impossible to release the platter fromyourself the whether you would die if it were denied you mold in one piece. If the clay is too wet, the platterto write...” collapses; too dry, it cracks. For me this quotation sums up the finest goals of an Because of variations in the platters, they cannot artist. be Art is not always practical, but it is the only way stacked on top of each other during a bisque firing. I Iknow how to live. Once I am through with the pots, can fire 12 platters at a time in my 35-cubic-foot, downby which I mean I have learned everything needed from draft, propane-fueled kiln. It works better this way, butthem, I begin to look for opportunities to show them. when stacked, it looks so wasteful. Nevertheless, in thisSometimes I enter competitions as well as sending some manner I can work through an idea quickly and see theoff to galleries. As always a potter’s best friend is the results in a couple of days. dumpster. If a pot does not have what I am looking for, Normally, I work in a three-month cycle, unless outI’m it goes so as not to haunt me later. changing molds; then everything stops until the newI pull the strings in only one place, my studio. This molds are completed. I make ware for a month to is six my domain; here I answer to no one. This is not the weeks, then glaze for a month to six weeks. The result real world; it is my fantasy. is usually 50-60 large platters, plus numerous small The phone rings. It is an intrusion—often a pleasant, plates and a tile wall piece. much-needed one, but still an intrusion. Words. I am After weeks of work, the question becomes, “What full do of words. I have not spoken to anyone for two days. I do with all of this ware?” First I study them. “TheyWords are come tumbling out, smothering the caller. great. I love them. They are the best ever!” I study (“What’sthem with her?”) Then back to work. some more. “They are awful. Embarrassing!” Then I startNow it’s time to start over again. A cycle that spirals to see the possibilities. Reaching a middle ground, I canonward. The best labor is making things, counting them see what the next step should be. Only then can I startbefore I turn out the lights, estimating how many kiln making pots again. loads I will need to fire. Where will I be in three months? There are so many mundane tasks that must be taken Will I be on schedule? Can I make 75 platters? Another care of in the studio: Bills must be paid; the books kepttile wall? What about boxes for packing? up to date; and inventory tracked down. When I was inTomorrow I’ll be wedging clay, making pots—the most school, I never thought that my most constant mind-expanding contact drug. I travel the farthest when wedg with the outside world would be the U.P.S. driver. ing. It is a release, a private act, just me and the clay. Finding reliable galleries that appreciate and under Another battle will begin. In six weeks I’ll be cleaning stand you as an artist is not easy. There are thousands up the debris of another studio war. of potters in America and most want a gallery. I wanted my work to be seen over a wide geographical area. Be cause I did not have the funds to visit galleries in person, I looked in magazines. On seeing an advertisement forRight Slab platter; 30 inches in length, with slips and a gallery that represented people whose work I respectalkaline glaze, terra cotta formed over a plaster hump ed, I would send them slides and a resume. mold. “I tried different glazes, firing temperatures and In dealing with galleries, so much is taken in trust: forms until eventually finding something that suited me: What do they say about you as an artist? How dosimple they forms to paint, ...layering and scratching the sell your work? How is it presented? Is it on the floor,colors until they began to relate. ”
A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio
Top rowPlates and platters glaze, mixed with 0.4% with 50 to 70% frit. how everything moves in are formed from terra cotta yellow ocher to achieve a harmony. By keeping the slabs draped over plaster warm white, is poured over Bottom rowJane uses forms simple and direct, I hump molds. bisqueware. Applied majolica to explore ideas can use color, its decoration is with metallic from nature, “how mass brightness and density to Middle rowA majolica oxides and stains mixed and color relate in space, cause constant motion. ”
Above right Platter, 22 inches long, with fritted oxides and stains on majolica base. Right Majolica platter, 23 inches in length, drape-molded terra cotta. Far right Majolica platter, 22 inches long.
A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio
Terra-cotta platter, 30 Platter, 23 inches in Majolica platter, 23 inches Slab platter, 30 inches in inches in length, with length, majolica-glazed in length, Jired at Cone length, majolica on terra majolica decoration. terra cotta. 06-04. cotta.
Draped terra cotta platter, 30 inches in length, with sgraffito through fritted oxides and stains brushed over majolica base glaze, by Jane Gustin.
A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio An Approach to Single Firing by Steven Hill
Single-fired stoneware vase, 15 inches in height, thrown, with trailed slip, dipped and sprayed glaze. Photos: R.C. Nible
January 1986 47 A kiln load of glazed raw ware is fired slowly to bisque The Cone 10 firing then proceeds at a typical rate, with temperature, maintaining oxidation to Cone 04. reduction beginning at Cone 04.
Pressure is spread over as large an area as possible when dipping Raw pots can even be slapped into a bucket of glaze to encourage bone-dry ware into glaze. wave motion and corresponding marks. 48 Ceramics Monthly reason the following data cannot be in these are both fairly nonplastic ball clays, Forthe past 13 years, I have been single terpreted as the answer, but merely as any other substitutions would require firing all my work. The first experience a good point of departure for experi experimentation. The 35-mesh flint grog I had with single firing was in 1972 at mentation. (available from Missouri Minerals Pro a salt-glazing workshop taught by Peter cessing, Inc., High Hill, Missouri 63350) Sohngen at the Memphis Academy of Clays is used because of its light gray fired Arts. I left that workshop determined to The first step is to try your current color and relative fineness. be a salt potter and also never to fire body to see how it responds to single another bisque kiln. firing. If it turns out to be unsatisfactory, Glazes Frustration probably would have won you then must decide if you want to alter out had I not felt something special for it or go with a different body altogether. Learning about how glazes relate to the process. I responded to the stronger Most clay bodies will work fine for sin single firing has been quite an evolu connection between making and glazing gle firing. tionary process. Most potters have read a pot. Single-fire glazing becomes a nat It is important, however, for the clay that slip glazes work best for single fir ural extension of the forming and dec to have a certain amount of physical ing and that is the advice I followed when orative processes and gives a chance to strength to withstand the stress of raw I started. But slip glazes (glazes that are follow through without losing sight of glazing. For some people a typical por predominately clay) can lead to serious the original intention for each pot. celain might be okay, but for others it water absorption problems with your clay Potters often talk about good pots as might take a body with above-average body, as they tend to stay wet longer having “life” or “character.” The bisque dry strength. A general guide for in after they’re applied. The quicker a glaze fire seems to do its best to snuff that out. creasing the dry strength would be to dries, the smaller the chance that water After bisquing, pots look and feel dead; increase the amount of ball clay in re in the glaze will affect the clay body. bisqued clay no longer responds to the lation to other clays or to increase any Yet clay is a very important ingredient hand or water, but it has not yet realized clays in relation to nonplastic ingredi in all single-fired glazes. When glaze is the transformation that glaze firing will ents. If this causes problems with in applied to a green pot and water is ab bring. Following through directly from creased shrinkage and warping, add grog sorbed, the clay expands. As the water making to glaze firing is a major ad to compensate. When developing a clay evaporates, the clay contracts to its orig vantage of single firing. body specifically for single firing, a good inal size. Therefore, the glaze must con Another advantage is that it encour starting point would be approximately tain enough clay for it to shrink as the ages directness in glazing. My personal 33% ball clay plus other plastic and non body contracts. Insufficient clay content tendency is to fiddle with something un plastic ingredients as if it were a body can lead to crawling. In extreme cases, til it is just right (or dead!), but when for twice firing. sheets of glaze will fall off the pot before single firing, you must apply glaze and Some clays, because of their particle it is fired. After years of experimenting be done with it. Raw clay doesn’t take size and distribution, have a tendency to with glazes that had progressively lower too kindly to having glaze removed from absorb water like a sponge, which can and lower percentages of clay, I now feel it. It also demands that you be tuned in lead to cracking when glazing bone dry the minimum clay quantity is between to the clay, much as in throwing. ware. Many years ago I attributed this 5 and 10%, but it will vary from one When glazing, you don’t have to han characteristic to bodies high in any open glaze to another. I also include 2-6% dle pots delicately, but you must have fireclay. Looking back, however, this bentonite in my glaze recipes for further some understanding of the physical problem could have been exaggerated by insurance. properties of your clays and glazes. It is poor throwing techniques. It’s hard to Other than clay content, there are no actually possible to put a lot of vigor into say how much was due to clay alone. special considerations that apply to sin the glazing process—pots can be dipped; At the present time I work with the gle-fired glazes. The following are a few glazes can be poured, sprayed, brushed following two bodies: of my long-time favorites: or layered. Nearly every decorative tech nique can be used with single firing, al SH Textured Stoneware Body Altered Sohngen Stony Matt Glaze though some must be adapted to de (Cone 10, reduction) (Cone 10, reduction) crease the amount of water absorbed by Barium Carbonate...... 4.74% the clay. Custer Feldspar...... 22 pounds Dolomite ...... 17.90 I prefer glazing when the pots are bone Kaiser Fireclay...... 100 Spodumene...... 7.37 dry. A viable and often-used alternative KT 1-4 Ball Clay...... 100 Talc...... 11.05 is to glaze pots when they are leather Flint (200 mesh) ...... 14 Kona F-4 Feldspar ...... 35.26 hard, but this involves glazing each when Flint Grog (35 mesh) . . . . 25 ______Bentonite ...... 5.26 it is ready instead of when I am ready. 261 pounds Georgia Kaolin 6 Tile Clay. . 18.42 My studio is very small and cannot func 100.00% tion as both a making and glazing space Sohngen White Stoneware Body at the same time. Also, my glazing time (Cone 10, reduction) Altered Shaner Red Glaze is intensive, whereas when I am making Custer Feldspar...... 18 pounds (Cone 10, reduction) pots my work space is more casual. Kentucky Ball Clay Bone Ash...... 3.68% After single firing my work for several (OM 4) ...... 30 Talc...... 3.93 years, I thought I understood the an KT 1-4 Ball Clay...... 150 Whiting...... 19.66 swers to most of the technical problems. Flint (200 mesh) ...... 18 Custer Feldspar...... 48.16 But with more experience, it became clear Flint Grog (35 mesh) . . . . 18 ______Bentonite...... 1.97 that success was more like a high wire 234 pounds Georgia Kaolin 6 Tile Clay. . 22.60 act, with clay bodies and glazes on op In the Sohngen recipe, SGP 1 ball clay 100.00% posing ends of a balancing pole. For this can be substituted for the KT 1-4; as Add: Red Iron Oxide...... 5.32% January 1986 49 Fake Ash Glaze responding lump and sometimes a crack (Cone 10, reduction) on the surface. This happens soon after Whiting ...... 32.26% glazing, and usually can be seen and Albany Slip Clay...... 51.61 heard. With quick action and luck, the SGP 1 Ball Clay...... 16.13 clay can be rejoined by squeezing that spot between your fingers. 100.00% Thin spots can also lead directly to For blue, add 2% cobalt carbonate and cracking. Overly thin rims are a natural 2% red iron oxide. place for cracking to occur. A slightly thickened rim is good insurance for sin Celadon Glaze 3 gle firing, though by no means abso (Cone 10, reduction) lutely necessary. Whiting ...... 19.6% If trimmed areas are left rough, as Custer Feldspar...... 37.5 opposed to burnished, more water may Bentonite...... 3.6 be absorbed and possibly lead to crack Georgia Kaolin 6 Tile Clay. . . 13.4 ing where the thrown area of the pot Flint...... 25.9 meets the trimmed area. A very similar 100.0% problem can occur if the pot has not Add: Red Iron Oxide...... 1.8% dried thoroughly (or is not uniformly leather hard) prior to glazing. A par Gray White Glaze tially dry pot will absorb water from the (Cone 10, reduction) glaze unevenly. Damp areas will whisk the water into the clay, while dry areas Dolomite...... 19.58% will resist it. I work in a basement studio Whiting ...... 3.10 that is often very humid and frequently Custer Feldspar...... 34.66 use a space heater to finish the drying Bentonite ...... 4.00 process (even in the summer). Georgia Kaolin 6 Tile Clay. . 20.28 For the most part, making pots for Flint...... 18.38 raw glazing is not really that demand 100.00% ing. Pots don’t need to be even in wall thickness—they just can’t be too thin. Tessha Glaze Pots can be made very loosely or tightly, (Cone 10, reduction) but it’s better if they’re not labored over. Whiting ...... 17.98% Any unnecessary stress applied to the Kona F-4 Feldspar ...... 23.60 clay will potentially show up as a defect Bentonite...... 6.74 when single firing. SGP 1 Ball Clay ...... 22.47 Flint...... 29.21 Glazing 100.00% The first time I dipped a raw pot into Add: Red Iron Oxide...... 13.48% glaze, pulled it out and waited for it to This saturated iron glaze is used only fall apart in front of me, I felt a lot of to emphasize small areas. uncertainty. But with experience, my The techniques used in making, glaz techniques demanded more of the clay. ing and firing are apt to vary from one Eventually I discovered that most any person to another. In general, being con thing worked as long as water absorp fident and direct will go a long way to tion was minimized. it is important to glaze the outside as ward successful single firing. For instance, glazes can be layered to quickly as possible after glazing the in increase depth and richness of surface. side. This allows expansion and con Making If you try to apply several layers of glazetraction to occur in unison. No more as The one overriding problem I have by dipping, the clay will finally give up sembly line glazing! had with throwing has been thin spots. no matter how much dry strength it has. Though I’ve heard others say that it Areas that wouldn’t make any difference But if you dip one layer and spray sucis important to glaze both the inside and with bisqued pots can lead to single-fired cessive light layers, it’s possible to apply outside of a form, in my experience this defects. For instance, the belly of a round a great deal of glaze without too much is not the case. In fact, it is really easy pot can become thin on the upper part water absorption. on the clay if only one surface is glazed. of the swell. I’m not saying that single Raw pots can even be slapped into a Defects almost never show up unless the fired pots should be thick, but there is glaze in order to get wave motion and clay has been exposed to water from both a point when they can be too thin. This corresponding marks. They can take this sides. will vary from clay to clay and glaze to sort of abuse if when holding them you Resisting with wax is important for glaze, and will also vary with the integ spread pressure over as large an area as areas where unwanted glaze might be rity of your throwing or handbuilding. possible. Obviously, glazing tongs are out. applied, as any method of removing glaze Faults usually show up as areas that look And you can no longer squeeze the foot involves damaging the surface of the clay. like (although are unrelated to) bloating; of a pot to hold it for glazing; that can I have always used liquid wax emulsion, there the clay has separated in the center pop the foot right off! and have just found a great substitution of the wall, leaving a pocket with a cor If you’re pouring or dipping the work, for the old Mobil Cer A. The wax resist 50 CERAMICS MONTHLY sold by Aftosa (Box 1338, El Cerrito, escape as gases when the glaze is melt son’s requirements to the next. Obvious California 94530) resists much better ing, leaving blisters or pinholes in the ly, not everyone will respond positively and dries to a harder surface. The one glaze. To effectively burn out these im to the aspects of single firing that appeal problem with any wax is that it can stick purities, the firing should be strictly ox to me. For them, bisquing probably seems to slick surfaces such as Formica bats idized from early red heat through nor like a small price to pay for the insur and cause little chunks of clay to pull mal bisque temperatures (Cone 010-04). ance it provides. off the next piece placed there. I do a With my fairly tight clay body, which After all these years, however, I feel lot of banding after glazing and find that doesn’t allow the gases to escape readily, as committed to single firing as some if the bat is moistened, waxed areas are I’ve found it helpful to slow the firing potters are to firing with wood. It has less likely to stick. It also helps if the and soak the kiln somewhat during this exerted its influence in subtle ways that resist is allowed to dry for a day or so period. have had a very positive impact on my before glazing and decorating. After reaching bisque temperature, development as a potter. Making good the firing can proceed as a typical glaze pots requires a flow of energy that must Firing firing. I fire in reduction starting at Cone extend beyond interruptions inherent in For the most part, the early stages of 04. If you fire all the way in oxidation, the process itself. Single firing can en single firing should proceed exactly like it might eliminate the blistering problem hance this energy flow by having a a bisque firing. Most clays contain im I’ve experienced. unifying effect on one’s work cycle. purities in the form of carbonates or sul As with any ceramic process, single fates. If these are not burned out in the firing has its own set of problems and The author Studio potter Steven Hill early stages of the firing cycle, they maysolutions which will vary from one per resides in Kansas City, Missouri. January 1986 51 Cone 020-4 Overglazes by Gerald Rowan
Making an overglaze adhere to an Crystals from N-brand sodium sili Overglaze 4 already glazed surface is one of the most cate can be redissolved by heating the (Cone 015) frustrating steps encountered by ceramic batch, but those formed by a nonceram- Lithium Carbonate...... 10.1% artists. The sodium-silicate-containing ic-quality brand (compounded for use N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 34.1 recipes in this article are designed to in furnace insulation) will not redissolve Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 14.9 overcome this problem and have broad satisfactorily when heated because of an Flint ...... 40.9 application in overglazing, multiple fir organic binder which coagulates into a 100.0% ing, raku, luster and fuming. jellylike mass. To use stored glazes made Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% Sodium silicate is an active flux, a with those sodium silicates, it is neces strong glue (it was once used for posters sary to ball-mill the batch for about one and billboards) and a powerful defloc- hour. Overglaze 5 culant. These three characteristics make The surface sheen and fluid quality (Cone 06) it ideal for use in the formulation of of the following glazes are strongly in N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 49.8% overglazes. Sodium silicate’s adhesive fluenced by the rate and length of the Whiting...... 13.4 ness provides the extra green strength firing, as well as by the composition and Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 16.9 necessary for overglazes to stick to pre maturing temperature of the glaze used Flint ...... 19.9 viously glazed and fired surfaces. As a underneath. Test tiles should be fired to 100.0% deflocculant, it allows the mixing of fluid examine various overglaze/glaze com Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% batches with a minimum amount of water. binations. To fine tune the overglaze rec As an active flux, it is ideal for the low ipe, adjust the flux content. If increased Overglaze 6 temperatures at which overglazes must adhesion is necessary, add CMC gum (Cone 1) mature. (0.25% of the dry weight). N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 31.6% N-brand liquid sodium silicate works Whiting...... 16.1 well in overglaze recipes; however, other Overglaze 1 Nepheline Syenite...... 40.0 brands (including the inexpensive “water (Cone 010) Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 12.3 glass” available at hardware stores) may N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 14.0% also be used. The ratio between sodium 100.0% Frit 3134 (Ferro) ...... 75.7 Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% silicate and water will vary from brand Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 10.3 to brand. Testing may be necessary to determine exact amounts required. To 100.0% Overglaze 7 weigh liquid sodium silicate, use a paper (Cone 020) cup (adding the weight of the cup to the Overglaze 2 Gerstley Borate...... 26.3% weight of the sodium silicate needed. It (Cone 4) Lithium Carbonate...... 6.9 is much easier to discard a paper cup Gerstley Borate...... 29.4% N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 63.0 than to clean the scale scoop). Do not N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 8.4 Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 3.8 use glass containers to weigh or store Georgia Kaolin...... 13.3 100.0% glazes containing sodium silicate; it ad Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 17.8 Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% heres to glass and will not wash off. Flint ...... 31.1 When working with sodium silicate 100.0% overglazes, weigh out only the amount Overglaze 8 for a batch to be used in one day. Mix Overglaze 3 (Cone 012) the dry ingredients with enough water (Cone 05) N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 6.8% to form a thick slip, add liquid sodium Gerstley Borate...... 50.5% Frit 3134 (Ferro) ...... 72.5 silicate, then adjust the water content. If N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 13.8 Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 5.0 these glazes are allowed to stand over Wollastonite ...... 24.4 Flint ...... 15.7 night, sodium silicate crystals will come Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 11.3 100.0% out of solution. 100.0% Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% 52 CERAMICS MONTHLY Overglaze 9 Tan to Brown: (Cone 09) Red Iron Oxide...... 2-10.0% Gerstley Borate...... 77.8% N-brand Sodium Silicate...... 11.0 Brown-Purple: Whiting ...... 4.2 Manganese Dioxide...... 1-3.0% Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 7.0 100.0% Purple (at Cone 06 or below): Add: Bentonite ...... 3.0% Cobalt Carbonate ...... 0.5% Manganese Dioxide...... 2.0% Color variations (in oxidation and re duction) are possible with the following Deep Blue: additions: Cobalt Carbonate ...... 1.0% Oxidation Colors Enamel White: Pastel Blue: Tin Oxide...... 10.0% Tin Oxide...... 5.0% Cobalt Oxide ...... 0.7% Turquoise: Copper Carbonate ...... 3.0% Reduction/Raku Colors Copper Luster: Opaque Turquoise: Tin Oxide...... 1.0% Tin Oxide...... 6.0% Copper Carbonate ...... 2.5% Copper Carbonate ...... 5.0% Manganese Dioxide...... 0.5% Blue-Green: Gold Luster 7: Copper Oxide ...... 3.0% Bismuth Subnitrate* ...... 1.0% Opaque Blue-Green: Iron Chloride ...... 1.0% Tin Oxide...... 5.0% Silver Nitrate...... 0.5% Copper Oxide ...... 4.0% Gold Luster 2: Bright Green: Bismuth Subnitrate ...... 1.0% Chrome Oxide...... 3.0% Iron Chloride ...... 1.0% Copper Oxide ...... 2.0% Silver Luster: Pastel Green:. Bismuth Subnitrate ...... 1.0% Zircopax...... 6.0% Silver Nitrate...... 1.0% Chrome Oxide...... 3.0% Turquoise to Copper Luster: Copper Oxide ...... 1.0% Bismuth Subnitrate...... 1.0% Chartreuse: Copper Chloride ...... 1.5% Potassium Dichromate ...... 4.0% The author A frequent contributor to Vanadium Pentoxide ...... 5.0% Ceramics Monthly, Gerald Rowan Light Chartreuse: maintains a studio in Collegeville, Penn Zircopax...... 6.0% sylvania. Potassium Dichromate ...... 4.0% *The subnitrate dissociates at a lower temperature and Vanadium Pentoxide ...... 5.0% causes less kiln damage than the nitrate. January 1986 53 54 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect Free Workshop Listings College of Ceramics at Alfred University for in art that renews, refurbishes, allows the fun The 1986 Summer Workshops listing will 30 years, and was one of Ceramics Monthly's of invention, but that also looks back on the be published in the April issue of Ceramics earliest authors. past with respect, understanding and affec Monthly. Summer schools, colleges, univer Educated at Yale (B.F.A. 1938) and Alfred tion. This opens the way for the continuous sities, craft institutions and workshops not University (M.F.A. 1949), Ted established a recreation of form.” Photo: Steve Myers. already contacted are invited to furnish in studio pottery in 1949, then joined the faculty formation by February 10 about their pro New Living National Treasure grams in ceramics. Please include the work Okinawa folk (mingei) potter Jiro Kin jo shop name, level of instruction, location, was recently recognized as a Living National opening and closing dates of sessions, course Treasure (officially, an Important Intangible descriptions, names of instructors, availabil Cultural Property) by the Japanese govern ity of live-in accommodations or camping, ment. Born in 1912, he has worked with clay fees and where to write and call for details. for more than 50 years, making functional Captioned photographs from last year’s ware using traditional techniques and nat workshops are welcome and will be consid ural materials. Folk pottery from Okinawa ered for publication. Send to: Summer Work has long been recognized as a major source shops, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Co of inspiration for Mashiko potter and pre lumbus, Ohio 43212; or call: (614) 488-8236. vious Living National Treasure Shoji Ha- mada. Toyozo Arakawa, 1894-1985 “Living National Treasure” Toyozo Ar Auction Reflections akawa died August 11 in Tajimi City after Auction prices reflect collectors’ interest an extended illness; he was 91. Potter of and the investment potential of contempo Ohkaya, Gifu Prefecture, Arakawa was often rary daywork, as well as antique ceramics. cited as being Japan’s most renowned potter According to the first Sotheby’s International since the death of Shoji Hamada. Price Guide (which lists the winning bids A protege of Rosanjin , Arakawa had come for approximately 8000 items sold at its auc from extreme poverty to become one of the tions throughout the world in 1984), several most respected, wealthy and powerful forces English potters’ works sold for impressive Ted Randall amounts: A 1976 stoneware “optical” jar (shown on the front cover of the guide) by at Alfred in 1951. From 1959 to 1973, he Elizabeth Fritsch brought $3802 in London. served as chairman of the department of art At a New York sale, works by Gertrud and design. Retiring then to part-time teach and Otto Natzler did well; two small vases ing, he continued to conduct seminars for sold for $1100 and $1650 respectively. Here graduate students, inviting them to his studio prices also were substantial for turn-of-the- each spring for informal exchanges on ideas century art pottery by Cowan, Rook wood and and aesthetics. Van Briggle Potteries. Following retirement from Alfred, Ted de Meanwhile, the top investment dollar re voted his efforts to a series of large sculptural mained strongly aligned with early Oriental commissions, then turned to making what he ceramics. In fact, historical Chinese ceramics considered his major work—large sculptural are currently rated as the second best in vessels. Through lectures and writing [see vestment (after U.S. coins’ 17.1%) with a “Being and Meaning” in the November 1984 compounded annual rate of return at 14.5%. CM], he continued to address ceramic art Such returns even rate above works by “old issues, often causing the kind of creative con masters” which currently return 10.7%, plac troversy which has helped to develop the va ing them fourth (after stamps at 14.5%), and riety of ideas so necessary for growth in con well ahead of stocks, treasury bills, dia temporary ceramics. Wayne Higby (Alfred, monds, bonds, oil and housing investments. New York) said recently that Ted Randall’s Those concerned about the recognition of ideas “set an example for what real schol contemporary ceramics as art, and the con arship might be.” And that Ted made “some current potential for art pricing, should con of the best show pots to ever come out of sider how long the divergence of pricing can Toyozo Arakawa Alfred.” This combination of scholarship, continue between quality historical clay ob in traditional Japanese ceramics. Arakawa’s aesthetics and ceramics produced one of the jects and contemporary ones. Consider, for rise to prominence was associated with his most well-rounded ceramists in the field. At example, a Tang dynasty horse which brought rediscovery and revival of the techniques of the 1984 National Council on Education for $374,220 in London, and a Northern Song black Seto ware and Shino ware which were the Ceramic Arts conference Ted laid out his dynasty fluted jar which sold for $77,000 in sparked by Momoyama period shards he had hopes for the future direction of the field: New York. Such prices are bound to affect found. These revived wares are prized ob “We need to find that degree of innovation thinking about value and pricing of living jects for the tea ceremony, and often com ceramists’ work. mand prices unheard of in the West. You are invited to send news and photo graphs about people, places or events of interest. We will be pleased to consider Turning Up the Heat Ted Randall, 1914-1985 them for publication in this column. Mail The Vortex Gallery in London recently Ted Randall died November 9 at his home submissions to: News and Retrospect, presented “Turning Up the Heat: Ceramics in Alfred, New York. Potter, ceramic artist, Ceramics Monthly, P.O. Box 12448, in Context,” an .exhibition featuring area designer of ceramic equipment and educator, Columbus, Ohio 43212. potters Christine Constant, Caroline Emery, he was associated with the New York State Continued January 1986 55 News & Retrospect
18-inch “carousel” form by Louise Gilbert Scott Michael Hunt, Agalis Manessi, Keiko Nak amura and Louise Gilbert Scott. Characteristic of Louise Gilbert Scott’s work based on studies of the shapes and movement of fairgrounds carousels, the red earthenware bowl above, approximately 18 inches in diameter, was decorated with white enamel stripes on metallic black glaze. “I used the ‘disk’ or ‘spinning top’ as the basic form from which to develop ideas,” Louise ex plained. “At present I am mostly coiling and slab building, concentrating more on surface treatment and decoration, and less on form. Subsequently, the work has become much less formal in appearance. The pots have also increased in scale to allow for a more open surface, and they are simpler in form so as not to distract from the decorative process.” Photo: Karen Norquay. Brad Schwieger Slab constructions by Brad Schwieger , fac ulty artist at Vincennes University in Indi ana, were featured recently at the Salt Lake City Art Center’s Utah Gallery. The slab forms, such as this saggar-fired panel, 32
32-inch stoneware panel, saggar fired inches in height, were influenced by a three- month stay in Mashiko, Japan. “Looking back at my time there,” Brad recalled, “I can iden tify several important influences which Jap anese life, art and architecture had on my work. The images and designs of both the shoji and byobu screens comprise a particular attraction for me. These screens, or dividers 56 CERAMICS MONTHLY of space, convey simplicity in their thin, ver tical structure; yet in this simplicity, there is an understated power of function—the pow er of a movable wall. “Each construction combines several pieces into one unit. The architectural quality is expressed in the obvious support system within each. The process becomes apparent as the viewer inspects the finished product from all angles. I have taken large, horizontal slabs and erected a vertical structure. “Besides the bulk of the structure, the work is also characterized by the use of a platform. These horizontal stands stabilize the forms both visually and functionally. At times, small elements are added to the top to stop the viewer’s eye, thus placing the entire piece in its own environment.” Brad’s constructions were slab built from earthenware or the following stoneware body:
Stoneware Body (Cone 9-10) Custer Feldspar...... 10 pounds Cedar Heights Goldart Clay . . 15 Hawthorne Bonding Clay ...... 60 Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4) . . 15 Flint...... 4 Grog ...... 20 124 pounds To enhance their architectural qualities, most of the constructions were glazed with matt or semimatt recipes, including:
Black Matt Glaze (Cone 9-10) Whiting ...... 20.4% Cornwall Stone ...... 18.4 Custer Feldspar...... 40.8 Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 20.4 100.0% Add: Zinc Oxide...... 7.1% Chrome Oxide ...... 1.0% Cobalt Carbonate ...... 2.0% Manganese Oxide...... 0.5% Red Iron Oxide...... 15.3% Bentonite...... 2.0% Blue Matt Glaze (Cone 9-10) Barium Carbonate...... 35.4% Lepidolite ...... 2.0 Lithium Carbonate...... 1.0 Whiting...... 3.0 Nepheline Syenite...... 43.4 Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 8.1 Flint...... 7.1 100.0% Add: Copper Carbonate ...... 2.5% While glaze firing his first few construc tions, Brad “noticed that there were slight separations where the slabs had been joined. Each of those forms had been fired vertically. My solution was to make small, triangular stilts out of a kiln wash mixture to be used as supports during the glaze firing (similar to the process for stilting pots in a salt kiln). Continued January 1986 57 Johnsen Extruder Workshop”; fee: $25. March Marketing Techniques” with Bruce Bak Itinerary 1 “Functional Pottery, Design and Develop er. January 31-February 2 “From the Dining Continued from Page 17 ment” with Robin Hopper; fee: $20. Contact: Lib to the Livingroom: The Dual Function of Useful eludes work by George Whitten; at the Egner Fine by Page, Sunnyvale Recreation Department, Sun Pottery” with Paul Rozman. Contact: New Bruns Arts Center, Findlay College, 1000 N. Main St. nyvale 94086; or call: (408) 730-7343. wick Craft School, Box 6000, Fredericton E3B Ohio, Toledothrough January 5 “The Amasis Louisiana, Baton RougeFebruary 15-16 5H1; or call: (506) 453-3767. Painter and His World: Vase Painting in Sixth- Cynthia Bringle workshop. Contact: Louisiana Canada, Ontario, Torontothrough January Century B.C. Athens”; at the Toledo Museum of Crafts Council, 720 Terrace Ave., Reddy Cultural 10 Deichmann Pottery, Way land Gregory, Ber Art, 2445 Monroe St. Center, Baton Rouge 70802; or call: (504) 381 - nard Leach, Janet Leach, Pablo Picasso, Pilking- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia through January 9562. ton Potters, Lucie Rie, Russel Wright, “From the 19 “Tableware,” 20th anniversary invitational; New York, New YorkJanuary 17-18 Paula Collections”; at the Royal Ontario Museum, 100 at the Works Gallery, 319 South St. Winokur, architectural clay lecture and workshop. Queen’s Park. Tennessee, Nashville January 26-February Contact: Greenwich House Pottery, 16 Jones St., through January 15 Hans Coper; at the George 21 “Political Statements,” national juried exhi New York 10014; or call: (212) 242-4106. R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, 111 Queen’s bition; at Sarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt University. February 3-7 “Expressive Use of the Wheel” with Park. Virginia, Alexandria through January 5 The Warren MacKenzie. Fee: $140; nonmembers January 9-February 2 “Mentor’s Choice,” an Kiln Club of Washington’s “Gifts of Clay.” $ 150. March 9 “A Personal Dialogue with Clay” exhibition of work by 36 Canadian craftspeople; January 8-February 2 “Off to a New Start,” by with Susan Eisen. Fee: $40. April 11 or 13 at the Craft Gallery, 346 Dundas St., W. the Ceramic Guild; at Scope Gallery, Torpedo “Aesthetic and Functional Concerns in a Produc January 18-February 5 A two-person exhibition Factory Art Center, Union and King Sts. tion Studio” with Malcolm Wright. Fee: $40. Con with Jeanne McRight, large-scale installations; at tact: Janet Bryant, Art Center, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Olga Korper Gallery, 80 Spadina Ave., 4th Floor. Lexington Ave., New York 10128; or call: (212) Canada, Quebec, Montreal through January Workshops 427-6000, ext. 172. 12 “Format”; at Interaction Gallery, 3575 Ave Arizona, Mesa February 8 “Interpreting Ar Ohio, CantonJanuary 17-18 “Syd Carpenter nue du Parc, Espace 5508, Promenade de la Place izona Landscapes in Clay,” a handbuilding session Workshop.” Contact: The Canton Potters Guild, du Parc. with Linda Speranza. Fee: $21. Contact: Mesa The Canton Art Institute, 1001 Market Ave., North, Denmark, Odense through January 5 An ex Cultural Program, Parks and Recreation, 155 North Canton 44702. hibition of works by the Danish group Multi Mud; Center St., Box 1466, Mesa 85201; or call: (602) Pennsylvania, Philadelphia January 26 Paula at Fyns Kunstmuseum, Jerbanegade 13. 834-2242. Winokur lecture. Fee: $3; students $1. Contact: England, Oxford January 6-February California, Fresno January 25 “Advanced The Clay Studio, 49 N. Second St., Philadelphia 12 “What’s New....?” includes works by Isobel Throwing and Airbrush Workshop” with Bill and 19106; or call: (215) 925-3453. Denis, Sue Mayo and Dinny Pocock; at Oxford Maureen Ellis. Contact: Bob Kizziar, San Joaquin Texas, San AntonioJanuary 13-24 “Basic Gallery, 23 High St. Clay Association, 53237 Hogback Rd., Mira- Throwing Skills” and “Salt-Fired Ceramics,” two France, Marseille through January 15 “Les monte, California 93641; or call: (209) 336-2561. sessions with Michael Simon. Fee: $63 each. Con Faiences de Saint-Jean-du-Desert”; at the Musee California, MendocinoJanuary 18 Karen tact: Southwest Craft Center, 300 Augusta St., San Grobet-Abadie, 19 rue Grignan. Karnes workshop. February 8-9 Robert Turn Antonio 78205; or call: (512) 224-1848. France, Sevres through January 20 “La Cer- er workshop. For further information contact: Tony Vermont, MiddleburyFebruary 18-22 Warren amique de Villeroy et Boch”; at the Musee na Marsh, Box 765, Mendocino 95460; or call: (707) MacKenzie workshop. Contact: Vermont State Craft tional de Sevres. 937-5818. Center at Frog Hollow, Middlebury 05753; or call: Germany, Mannheim, through January 6 Gerd California, Santa Monica January 25-26 (802) 388-3177. Knapper, pottery; at the Stadische Kunsthalle, Karen Karnes, lecture and demonstration on thrown Moltkestr. 9. functional forms. Contact: Orien Pagan, 23814 Sweden Varmlands through January 6 Ulla Twin Pines, Diamond Bar, California 91765; or International Events Viotti, “Sculptural Expressions”; at the Varm call: (714) 595-3446. Canada, New Brunswick, Fredericton Jan lands Museum, Utstallningshallen i Gamla bad- California, SunnyvaleJanuary 25-26 “A1 uary 10-12 “Craft Show Booth Construction and huset.
58 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect With the stilts evenly spaced on the kiln shelves, I was then able to load the com pletely glazed constructions horizontally for the glaze firing. Afterward, the structure was repositioned vertically and the stilts knocked off. The impression from the stilts remaining in the glaze is now an integral part of the surface designs on my work.” The stoneware constructions were packed in hardbrick saggars along with charcoal, sawdust and straw, then fired from Cone 2 to Cone 6. The saggar-fired earthenware structures were taken to approximately Cone 04. Brad felt “saggar firing served the same purpose as the matt glazes in that the sur faces were dry and the colors varied from black to tan with dull, flat white highlights.” Photo: Andrew Whitlock. Beverly Saito Raku sculptural forms by Bay Area ce ramist Beverly Saito were featured recently at Susan Cummins Gallery in Mill Valley, California. Working with low-fire tech niques has been “a radical change after ini-
Raku and lacquer tea set daily working on high-fire porcelain func tional forms,” Beverly commented. “In doing sculptural pieces I have also felt the freedom to utilize whatever means possible to achieve the effects that I need. Paint, plastic, metal or other materials are sometimes incorpo-
10-inch “Jack-in-the-Box ” figures rated into the piece to give it a quality that the ceramic process alone could not produce. I feel that creating a successful work goes far beyond a technical achievement. New processes, experimentation, even unplanned accidents have, at times, contributed to some of my best pieces.” Shown from the exhibition are a tea set, 19 inches in length, and “Jack-in-the-Box” figures, to approximately 10 inches in height, Continued January 1986 59 from slides. Fee: $15. Contact: Worcester Craft Madison Art Center, 211 State St., Madison 53703; Where to Show Center, 25 Sagamore Rd., Worcester 01605; or or call: (608) 257-0158. Continued from Page 13 call: (617) 753-8183. March 31 entry deadline February 15 entry deadline Baltimore, Maryland “Artscape ’86” (July Knoxville, Tennessee “Dogwood Crafts Fair” Indianapolis, Indiana “Talbot Street Art Fair” 18-20) is open to craftspeople from Delaware, (April 11-13) is juried from 5 slides of work and (June 14-15) is juried from slides. Fees: $30 for Washington, D. C., Maryland, New Jersey, New optional slide of booth. Fee: $5. Contact: Dogwood members of Indiana Artist-Craftsmen; nonmem York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Arts Festival, 204 Fort Hill Bldg., Knoxville 37915; bers $60. For further information contact: Talbot Juried from 5 slides. Fee: $75 for a 10x10-foot or call: (615) 637-4561. ^ Street Fair Committee, Box 479, Danville, Indi space. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: February 1 entry deadline ana 46122. Artscape ’86, c/o Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Evansville, Indiana “Ohio River Arts Festi February 21 entry deadline Art and Culture, 21 S. Eutaw St., Baltimore 21201; val” (May 10-11) is juried from 3 slides. Awards. Guilford, Connecticut The “29th Annual or call: (301) 396-4575. Entry fee: $10. Booth fee: $50 for approximately Guilford Handcrafts Exposition” (July 17-19) is Medina, Ohio The 14th annual “Art in the a 10x12-foot space. For further information con juried from 5 slides. Clay juror: Michael Cohen. Park” (July 20) is juried from 5 slides. Contact: tact: Joyse Briding Kramer, 16½ S.E. Second St., Fee: $12. Awards. Contact: Guilford Handcrafts, Art in the Park Screening Committee, Box 339, Suite 210, Evansville 47708; or call: (812) 422- Box 221, 411 Church St., Guilford 06437; or call: Medina 44258; or call: (216) 722-1863. 2111. (203) 453-5947. April 10 entry deadline Frederick, Maryland The 12th annual “Fred Lockport, New York The 16th annual “100 Biloxi, Mississippi The “3rd Annual Inter erick Craft Fair” (May 15-18) is juried from 5 American Craftsmen” (May 30-June 1) is juried national Crafts Festival” (May 30-June 1) is ju slides. Entry fee: $10. Booth fees: S175—$275. For from slides. Contact: 100 American Craftsmen, ried from 5 slides. Fee: $125. Contact: Eileen Za, further information contact: Noel Clark, National Kenan Center, 433 Locust St., Lockport 14094; 1000 Washington Ave., Ocean Springs, Mississip Crafts Ltd., Gapland, Maryland 21736; or call: or call: (716) 433-2617. pi 39564; or call: (601) 875-3900. (301) 432-8438. February 28 entry deadline Garrison, New York The “17th Annual Arts Kansas City, Missouri “Brookside Art An Croton-on-Hudson, New York “Clearwater’s & Crafts Fair” (August 16-17) is juried from 4 nual” (May 2-4) is juried from 5 slides. Fee: $85. 9th Annual Great Hudson River Revival” (June slides. Entry fee: $3; booth fee: $50. Commission: Contact: Bonnie Clow, 10941 Lydia Ave., Kansas 21-22) is juried from 5 slides. Fee: $75 for a 12x 12- 10%. Contact: Garrison Art Center, Box 4, Gar City 64131. foot space. For further information contact: Clear rison 10524; or call: (914) 424-3960. February 3 entry deadline water’s Great Hudson River Revival Crafts Com April 11 entry deadline Boynton Beach, Florida “Boynton’s G.A.L.A. mittee, Joan Silberberg, RFD 2, Pudding St., Car Evanston, Illinois The 7th annual “Fountain (Great American Love Affair)” (February mel, New York 10512. Square Arts Festival” (June 28-29) is juried from 28-March 2) is juried from 2 slides of work and March 15 entry deadline slides. $300 in awards. Contact: Evanston Cham 1 of display. $8000 in awards. Fee: $50. For fur Louisville, Kentucky “The Kentucky Guild of ber of Commerce, 807 Davis St., Evanston, 60201; ther information contact: Eleanor Wollenweber, Artists and Craftsmen’s 25th Anniversary Fair” or call: (312) 328-1500. Box 232, Boynton Beach 33425; or call: (305) 734- (July 25-27) is open to residents of Illinois, In April 20 entry deadline 8120, ext. 432. diana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Vir Fort Wayne, Indiana “Three Rivers Festival February 5 entry deadline ginia and West Virginia. Juried from 5 slides. Arts and Crafts Show” (July 12-13) is juried from Asheville, North Carolina “Winterfest Art & $2500 in awards. Fee: $125 for a 12x12-foot space. 5 slides or photos. Fee: $40. Send a self-addressed, Craft Show” (February 13-15) is juried from slides Contact: KGAC 25th Anniversary, Water Tower stamped envelope to: Three Rivers Festival, 2301 or photos. Fee: $100. For further information send Art Association, 3005 Upper River Rd., Louisville Fairfield Ave., Suite 107, Fort Wayne 46807. self-addressed, stamped, business envelope to: Bet 40207; or call: Mike Imes (502) 549-8102 or Sar April 30 entry deadline ty Kdan, 40 Hyannis Dr., Asheville 28804; or call: ah Frederick (502) 897-1298. Portsmouth, Virginia The “16th Annual (704) 253-6893. Madison, Wisconsin The Madison Art Cen Portsmouth Seawall Art Show” (June 6-8) is ju February 14 entry deadline ter’s 28th annual “Art Fair on the Square” (July ried from slides. $8000 in awards. Contact: Sea Worcester, Massachusetts “Worcester Craft 12-13) is juried from 4 slides. Entry fee: $10; wall Art Show, Box 820, Portsmouth 23705; or Center 16th Craft Fair” (May 16-18) is juried booth fee: $160. Contact: Art Fair on the Square, call: (804) 393-8481.
60 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect handbuilt and raku fired, with brightly col ored lacquered surfaces. Ikuzi Teraki Slip-cast porcelain vessel sculpture by Ikuzi Teraki was exhibited recently at del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles. Characteristic of the forms shown, “Vase,” 18 inches in height,
7 8-inch “Vase” slip-cast porcelain was airbrushed at the top with a black slip and clear glazed on the body. Born in Japan, Ikuzi graduated from the Kyoto Ceramic School, then apprenticed with Hisashi Tezuka. After further study at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada, he es tablished a studio in Oakland, California, in 1979. Martha Holt “Shadow” figures with painterly surfaces by Martha Holt, Cambridge Springs, Penn sylvania, were featured recently at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North
Earthenware tile “Wallflower” 45 inches high Carolina. Composed of earthenware tiles, the larger-than-life-size forms were based on the artist’s own shadow. “The relationship between two-dimen- sional and three-dimensional space is in triguing,” Martha states. “From 1978 to 1984, Continued January 1986 61 62 CERAMICS MONTHLY News & Retrospect I explored this relationship using photo graphs as my two-dimensional element [see the January 1980 and May 1981 CMs] and clay as my three-dimensional element— sometimes making the clay come forward; other times making the photographs come forward and the clay recede. At times I twist ed them around so that the photographs read as three dimensional and the clay read as two dimensional. “This current series of work is in the shape my shadow casts—transposed onto the con crete floor in my studio. Small clay parts are added onto the ceramic tiles molded from my
The artist with “Tornado” figures floor. They are then underglazed, glazed and glued to a wood backing. The resulting ce ramic figures are around 7 feet tall.” Photos: courtesy of Theo Portnoy Gallery. Mary Lou Alberetti Approximately 50 wall platters brushed with vitreous slips, stains and underglazes byMary Lou Alberetti were exhibited in the Paul Mellon Arts Center at Choate Rose mary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut, through
22-inch “Algarve ” thrown, with relief slabs November 9. Ranging from 18 to 24 inches in diameter, the forms were wheel thrown, then altered with slab additions. An associate professor of ceramics and art at Southern Connecticut State University, Mary Lou maintains a studio in New Fair field, Connecticut. Photo: Cordes & Co. Mary Bowron Functional stoneware and porcelain by Maryland potter Mary Bowron were on dis- Continued January 1986 63 for alternatives. Industrial suppliers for screen material or wire cloth Suggestions often handle a great deal of stainless steel cloths (up to 230 mesh) Continued from Page 19 for food-processing applications. Good-sized pieces in the mesh needed three equally spaced places. I regularly stack 11-inch plates eight may sometimes be found in their remnant bin for as little as $5 per high in the bisque Firing without any cracking or warping. square foot. Using refractory fiber only three spacers may be safely used, but For a frame, get two pieces of particleboard or plywood a little this method may be adapted if more spacers are needed to prevent wider than the screens, cut a hole in each, and clamp them together warping of larger forms: Very soft wads of clay may act as spacers, too, and may be placed wherever needed to support a form. (Again, wads should be directly over one another in each successive layer.) Small pieces of plastic sheeting on the top and bottom of each wad prevent moisture absorption into the greenware, yet allow venti lation for the drying wads. The bisque schedule should be slowed to prevent wad blowup. A word of caution: If you bisque high enough to begin significant clay shrinkage (say, 1%), stress may crack the lower-level pieces which cannot shrink freely due to the weight on them. Lowering the bisque temperature or limiting the stack height should prevent this. —John Eckert, Saint Petersburg, Fla. with the screen in between, of course. The sieve works fine just like Free Tools that, but to make it hold more glaze without spilling, a groove may Chicken feathers make nice “brushes” and can be used to decorate be routed in the top board and a cut-off bucket top stuck in it. (If pots. Horse and other animal hair can also be made into brushes— you don’t have access to a router, you could glue or nail the rim onto the board.) In this way you’ll have a sieve in any mesh required that is easy to assemble, to clean, and is long lasting, because it’s stainless steel. just gather the strands together and place a little waterproof glue If you want to make it more permanent, that can be done easily on the tips before inserting them in a piece of bamboo. Wrap the with a few bolts and nuts. — Stefan Barth, Mt. Eden, Calif. ferrule with wire. Roll garden seeds into clay for additional visual texture. Dollars for Your Ideas —Linda Slater, Arvada, Colo. Ceramics Monthly pays $10 for each suggestion published; submis sions are welcome individually or in quantity. Include an illustration Interchangeable Sieve and Frame or photo to accompany your suggestion and we will pay $10 more Since brass sieves are not cheap ($10 to $20 around here) and if we use it. Send your ideas to CM, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio don’t always last as long as one would like them to, I started looking 43212. Sorry, but we can’t acknowledge or return unused items.
64 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect play at the Jackie Chalkley Gallery in Wash ington, D.C., through November 2. Glazed in earth tones and celadons, many of the forms were decorated with duck and bird imagery,
14-inch stoneware platter as on this stoneware platter, 14 inches in diameter, combining brushwork, slip-trailing and incising. Photo: Breger & Assoc. California Competition Cosponsored by the Association of San Francisco Potters and Glass Blowers, the “Clay and Glass 1985” exhibition at Marin Com munity College in Kentfield, California, fea tured 209 functional forms and sculptural objects, encompassing whimsy, animal im agery, spiritual emergence, mystic power and evocations of the past. The most personal work in the show was “Self-portrait with My Cat Gus,” a 31-inch- high painted clay armchair with mixed-me- dia attachments, by San Rafael artist Poe Dismuke. On one side of the chair is a paint ed picture of Poe at thirteen months; sus pended from the top is a wooden yo-yo. Stuffed within the frame and spilling out among rus ty springs are many toys of his childhood, while the front of the chair announces the mature “Poe the Artist.” After reviewing the 581 entries, juror Kenneth Trapp , associate curator of crafts and decorative arts at the Oakland Museum, noted: “Jurying works of art is very much like grading examination papers—the ex cellent and the poor become evident quickly, while that larger gray area between is most difficult to measure and judge. In jurying works of art, I look for three fundamentals: originality of conception; quality of execu tion; and presence of the final statement. The finest work of art can be compromised by the lack of any of these criteria. “There is a mistaken popular notion that jurying—like art itself—is purely subjective, with no real standards, or that standards— such as they may be—change with every per son. In my experience of jurying art with colleagues, I have discovered that we almost always come to consensus quickly, for our criteria and critical judgment are in sym pathy. This comes from study and from con- Continued January 1986 65 66 CERAMICS MONTHLY News & Retrospect
Poe Dismuke’s “Self-portrait with My Cat Gus” stant evaluation of what we see around us. Jurying is never really divorced from a fuller experience of living.” Text: Alice Corning; photo: Joseph McDonald. D.C. Teapots “Two for Tea,” an exhibition of teapots and related items by 11 members of the Washington, D.C., Kiln Club, recently was presented in the Scope Gallery at the Tor pedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia. In cluded in the show was this tea set, with 4½-
Temmoku-glazed tea set by Andra Patterson inch-high teapot, thrown and altered, fired in reduction to Cone 10, by Andra Patterson , Washington, D.C. Photo: F-2 Photography. Martin Smith Though not intended to serve as con tainers, new work by Martin Smith (shown recently at the British Crafts Centre in Lon don) is “a conscious reference to the vessels used in the most fundamental human activ ities—the storage, cooking and serving of food,” remarked reviewer Anthony Wells-Cole. “His choice of red earthenware was not only Slip-cast cups, each produced in an edition of four
Continued January 1986 67 68 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect for its aesthetic qualities of warmth and soft ness, but because it is the most basic and intrinsically least valuable of all ceramic ma terials, common to all civilizations. “We see ‘bowl’ forms, not simple hemi spheres, but spheres (or sections of them) that have been cut and recombined, so as to become more evocative, more profound. What
5-inch bowl, red earthenware with underglazes Martin is evoking still derives from his in terest in Italian art and architecture [see “Forms around a Vessel” by Martin Smith in the December 1983 CM], the relationship of one object to another, the interaction of one building to others to form a space of a particular kind; but his response to this in spiration has become, in his words, looser, more lyrical.” Randy Fein “Whimsy, humor and the fluid quality of clay are all themes in my work,” remarked Stockton Springs, Maine, ceramist Randy Fein, whose allegorical building facades were exhibited recently at the New York Clay Company Gallery in Belfast, Maine. “Clay allows me to capture time and movement in an animated cartoonlike style,” she contin ued. “The sculptural houses combine child-
45-inch stoneware wall relief with stains hood imagery of the brownstones on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and my present in terest in the Victorian architecture of Maine.” The wall relief shown above, “Corner Fa- Continued January 1986 69 70 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect cade,” was constructed in four parts from white stoneware slabs accented with stains and fired to 2300°F. Ninth Philadelphia Craft Show Thirty-two ceramists were among the 125 craftspeople selected to participate in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s ninth annual “Philadelphia Craft Show” at the 103rd En gineers’ Armory. In reviewing the 1200 ap plications from craftspeople nationwide, the five-member jury was asked to choose “only works that display a high degree of origi nality” as well as “expert execution.” The 1985 show also featured a retrospec tive exhibition of porcelain by Philadelphia ceramist Rudolf Staffel, who was honored as
7V2-inch “Light Gatherer” by Rudolf Staffel the first recipient of the Philadelphia Craft Show Award for Distinguished Achievement in American Crafts. Arrowmont Faculty Show A multimedia exhibition of works by the summer faculty and staff was presented re cently at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Included were ceramic vessels and sculpture by Arrowmont director Sandy Blain ; Karl Borgeson, White water, Wisconsin; Catharine Hiersoux, Berkeley; Steven Hill , Kansas City, Mis souri; Richard Hirsch, West Newbury, Mas sachusetts; Karen Koblitz, Venice, Califor nia; Mary Roehm, Ellicottville, New York; Barbara Tipton, Powell, Ohio; and Jack Troy, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Barbara Tipton’s work is wheel-thrown porcelain, fired in an oxidation atmosphere. “It is most important that form and deco ration make an entire statement, each sup portive of the other,” she commented. “Some plates utilizing raised lines of slip hark back to 17th-century English and European slip- trailed ware, with early trellis patterns around Continued January 1986 71 72 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect
13-inch “No Teeth” by Barbara Tipton the rim, but within refer to contemporary influences and personal experience. Other works start off as drawing with brushed slip and paper resist cutouts. The slip may then be drawn back through with a stylus, and more slip added to other areas. After a first firing, colored slip and glaze are added and the piece fired to maturity. Many of the works are then refired four to six times, layering slip on glaze on slip to achieve a richer sur face. The process is similar to that of paint ing, except each layer is now bonded and made permanent by a firing, and during sub sequent firings the layers interact and react with each other, adding that extra design ele ment of chance so often present in ceramics already. Thus each firing offers the possi bility of presenting me with a new set of conditions. The decision is mine whether to accept them or to consider them and search for a solution with another reglazing and fir ing.” Karl Boregeson’s raku work, such as this handbuilt bowl, 16 inches in diameter, “deals
16-inch raku bowl by Karl Borgeson primarily with illusions of transparency or of solidity, achieved through the placement of color or manipulation of form.” Photos: Ron Forth, Clare Verstegen. 16th-century Hi-ire Acquired The Brooklyn Museum of Art recently acquired a Shino hi-ire, a small brazier for lighting one’s pipe, made in the Momoyama period (late 16th century). Tobacco smoking was introduced to the Japanese by the Por tuguese, the first Europeans to visit their Please Turn to Page 76 January 1986 73 74 Ceramics Monthly New Books
Ancient Technology to Modern in the United Kingdom]. The final section Science covers Ceramic Patents: A History of De edited by W D. Kingery velopment [focusing on significant patents that affected the origin of several ceramic indus Compiled from papers presented at the so tries] and A History of the Development of ciety’s 86th annual meeting, this is the first a Science of Sintering [understanding the volume in the American Ceramic Society se modern concept]. 341 pages including author ries on “Ceramics and Civilization.” Because and subject indexes. 6 color plates; 131 black- the range of topics is so diverse, the text can and-white photographs and micrographs; 6 best be described by listing its contents. In the first section are reports on Technology maps; 55 drawings; 17 graphs; 28 diagrams; and Style in Ancient Ceramics [third mil and 30 tables. $55 ($45 for American Ce lennium B.C. ware found in eastern Iran, ramic Society members). American Ceramic southern Afghanistan and central and south Society, 65 Ceramic Drive, Columbus, Ohio ern Pakistan]; Technology and Typology of 43214. Egyptian Ceramics [analyzing shape, clay and production method to determine origin]; Notes Ceramic Source ’86 on Some Clays Used for Pottery in Ancient Annual Source Book Compiled by the Nubia [X-ray diffraction and other analyt American Ceramic Society, Inc. ical methods used to identify clay character Planned as a yearly publication, this first ref istics]; The Ethnoarcheology of Pottery Pro erence guide for people “in all fields of ce duction in an Upper Egyptian Village [modern ramics and related industries” provides a list pottery production relating to the making of of company products and services; a com archaeological ware]; The Brickmakers of pany index with addresses, telephone num Babylon [analysis of the clays and manufac bers and marketing representatives for more turing processes used for bricks in the sixth than 1800 organizations and their divisions; century B.C.]; Social Implications of Ceram a directory of product trade names; and a ic Style in the Neolithic Peloponnese [theory 2500 term glossary. The second half of the of interaction among early Greek potters based book is devoted to technical information in on styles of production and decoration]; An cluding physical properties of various raw Analytical Approach to the Technological materials and clay bodies, formulas for din- Development of Mississippian Pottery [in nerware glazes, and properties of castable vestigating rock salt used as an additive in refractories, plus such basic facts as the pe shell-tempered bodies]; and Maya Pottery riodic table, atomic weights and pyrometric Techniques and Technology [technical as cone equivalents. 370 pages. $25 (softcover). pects of six kinds of pottery]. The second American Ceramic Society, 65 Ceramic Drive, section includes The Evolution of Chinese Columbus, Ohio 43214. Pottery and Porcelain Technology [chemical analysis and microstructure evaluation]; The Origin and Development of Traditional North American Pottery and Chinese Glazes and Decorative Ceramic Porcelain Colors [analyses of early glazes to determine by Ellen and Bert Denker possible raw materials]; Variations in the Compiled as a pictorial guide for collectors, Microstructure and Microcomposition of Pre- this handbook offers an overview of func Song, Song and Yuan Dynasty Ceramics [45 tional and decorative ceramics made in the samples analyzed to determine the degree of United States and Canada from colonial times uniformity in various glaze types and their to the early 1970s. Divided into 50 sections changes with time]; 13th- to 18th-Century (each introduced with a historical outline), Ceramics from the Paterna-Manises Area the guide illustrates examples of redware, (Spain) [chemical and mineralogical data on stoneware, molded yellow ware, earthenware shards used to suggest different levels of tech and porcelain, art pottery, modern studio nological control]; Steps in the Manufacture pottery, and tiles. Each example is identified of the Soft-Paste Porcelain of Vincennes, Ac by maker, city or region of origin, date, size, cording to the Books of Hellot [extracts from production method, decoration, marks, letter royal records, including clay and glaze rec code for price range and current collection; ipes plus methods of forming and decorat a frequent source is the National Museum ing]; The Development of European Soft- of History, Smithsonian Institution. 256 pages Paste (Frit) Porcelain [microstructural and including selected bibliography and index. microchemical analysis of 18th-century French 50 color plates; 302 black-and-white pho ware]; and The Constitution of Coade Stone tographs. $7.95 (paperback). The Main Street [architectural clay used from 1769 to 1840 Press, Pittstown, New Jersey 08867. January 1986 75 News & Retrospect Continued from Page 73 country. As smoking became fashionable, such braziers became an essential part of the meal that accompanies an extended tea ceremony. The Brooklyn Museum’s brazier was thrown from a buff-gray stoneware, squared, decorated with iron oxide and coated with a
33/s-inch-high Shino brazier;16th century creamy, crackled feldspathic glaze. On one side is an arched bridge similar to the one at the Sumiyoshi Shrine in Sakai, near Osaka. Sakai was the only free port in Japan in the late 16th century, and its rich merchants were among the early patrons of the tea ceremony. Painted on the other three sides are a brush wood fence, young pine and autumn grass motifs. Practically Art Celadon-glazed carved porcelain jars by Elaine Coleman, Canby, Oregon, were among the decorative ceramic objects presented in “Practically Art,” a multimedia invitational
151/2-inch porcelain jar by Elaine Coleman at the Elaine Potter Gallery in San Francisco through December 31,1985. Also shown were handbuilt porcelain coffee services by Susan Thayer Farago, Providence, Rhode Island; and glaze-decorated, wheel-thrown porce lain plates by Barbara SchajJ, Stockton, New Jersey.Photo: Rick Paulson. Jim Kraft Seattle artist Jim Kraft recently presented an exhibition of 21 earthenware animal con- 76 CERAMICS MONTHLY 24-inch rabbit, earthenware with slips structions at Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Characteristic of the forms shown, this leaping rabbit, approxi mately 24 inches in length, was slab built, decorated with colored slips and clear glazed. Gayle Fichtinger “My major concerns are with color, in tensity of expression, unexpected composi tion, scale and illusion,” commented Gayle Fichtinger for her M.F.A. thesis exhibition of figurative sculpture presented at Arizona State University in Tempe through Decem ber 13. “I’m exploring the play between two- and three-dimensional space through the combination of flat cutouts and modeled forms,
4-foot-high “Amanda with Her Red Potatoes” and through the relationship between the clay surface and painted illusion. I’m also inter ested in alluding to information beyond the figure, such as a larger than life broken off head referring to the monumental, the ad dition of animals or other objects suggesting relationships, and the introduction of shad ows of unseen objects or shadows falling across the surfaces as a result of invisible light sources.” Shown from the exhibition is “Amanda with Her Red Potatoes,” 48 inches in height, press-molded, slab-built and mod eled red earthenware, with stained slips and vitreous engobes. Steven Glass Successful marketing is often as much of a challenge as making pottery. One avenue Continued January 1986 77 78 CERAMICS MONTHLY News & Retrospect some potters are exploring is having interior designers represent them. The percentage on sales that designers receive is typically less than what most galleries collect. A solo exhibition of porcelain tableware and one-of-a-kind vessels by Steven Glass ,
Porcelain dinneriuare with brushed decoration resident potter at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, was presented at Alvin Schneider Design in New York City through December 31. Ohi/Sweet Show “Perception,” a dual exhibition at the Laughlin/Winkler Gallery in Boston, marked the culmination of the personal and artistic friendship that began between Marvin Sweet and Toshio Ohi three years ago at Boston University’s Program in Artisanry. Shown
16-inch-high basket by Marvin Sweet were Toshio’s traditional tea utensils (he is an 1 lth-generation potter from Japan) and Marvin’s more abstract baskets and con tainers. “Ceramic objects arrived at through his torical sources,” Marvin noted, “serve not Continued January 1986 79 News & Retrospect only as a way of expressing the insights of an earlier age, but also a means of preser vation in the process of attempting to get at what is the essence of all materials and every technique.” “Traditions are created,” Toshio added. “As I return to Japan with my new perspective, perhaps these pieces will be part of a new tradition. This is a responsibility for myself and all of the new generation.” Photo: Powell Photography. Joshua and Denise Suska Green “Image and Edge/Ceramic Vessels,” an exhibition of large decorated pots by Joshua and Denise Suska Green, North Bennington, Vermont, was presented recently at the Clay
Collaborating with Nathan in the Greens’ studio Place in Pittsburgh. Though all their forms are made in stages by throwing added coils, surface treatment is individual. Denise is primarily interested in painterly decoration; while Joshua develops deeply textured sur faces, carved when the vessel is leather hard.
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