October 1989 1 William C. Hunt...... Editor

Ruth C. Butler...... Associate Editor Robert L. Creager ...... Art Director

Kim Schomburg ...... 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 FAX (614) 488-4561

Ceramics Monthly (ISSN 0009-0328) is pub­ lished monthly except July and August by Professional Publications, Inc., 1609 North­ west Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43212. Second Class postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Subscription Rates: One year $20, two years $36, three years $50. Add $8 per year for subscriptions outside the U.S.A. Change of Address: Please give us four weeks advance notice. Send both the magazine address label and your new ad­ dress to: Ceramics Monthly, Circulation Of­ fices, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Contributors: Manuscripts, photographs, color separations, color transparencies (including 35mm slides), graphic illustra­ tions, texts and news releases about ce­ ramic art and craft are welcome and will be considered for publication. A booklet de­ scribing procedures for the preparation and submission of a manuscript is available upon request. Send manuscripts and cor­ respondence about them to: The Editor, Ceramics Monthly, 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 Apple Macintosh™ computer system. Indexing: An index of each year’s articles appears in the December issue. Addition­ ally, articles in each issue of Ceramics Monthly are indexed in the Art Index', on-line (com­ puter) indexing is available through Wilson- line, 950 University Ave., Bronx, New York 10452. A 20-year subject index (1953- 1972), covering Ceramics Monthly feature articles, Suggestions and Questions col­ umns, is available for $1.50, postpaid, from the Ceramics Monthly Book Department, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Copies and Reprints: Microfiche, 16mm and 35mm microfilm copies, and xero­ graphic reprints are available to subscrib­ ers from University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Back Issues: When available, back issues are $4 each, postpaid. Write for a list. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Form 3579 requested. Copyright © 1989 Professional Publications, Inc. All rights reserved

2 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 3 4 Ceramics Monthly V olume 37, Number 8 • October 1989

Feature Articles Three Views on Dinnerware Demand for dinnerware that is aesthetically pleas­ ing as well as utilitarian has broadened From Monastery to Studio: the market for studio production. In the Bruno La Verdiere, An Autobiography ...... 22 portfolio beginning on page 43, three potters, whose works were featured in a A Vietnamese Pottery Village by Virginia Gift...... 29 recent dinnerware national, discuss their ideas and concerns. Betsy Brandt ...... 34

Gauguin’s Ceramics A colorful figure, Celebrations of an Institutional Potter by Jim Connell...... 35 whose free-spirited life often attracted more attention than his art, Paul Gau­ Gauguin’s Ceramics ...... 38 guin counted on ceramics to pay the bills when his paintings didn’t sell; page 38. Clear Glazes/Celadons for Cone 6 and 10 by Harold, J. McWhinnie.. 42 Portfolio: Three Views on Dinnerware ...... 43 Tips from the Flame Learn how New Mexico potter Bruce Robinson modified Point of Departure by Patricia Glave...... 44 his wood-burning kiln for greater fuel The Function of Dinnerware by Andy Martin...... 46 efficiency, better temperature control and Dinnerware as Metaphor by Dick Lehman ...... 48 superior flashing; page 81. Tips from the Flame by Virginia Pike...... 81 Flashes of Luster by Terry Hutchinson...... 83

Departments

Letters ...... 6 Suggestions ...... 54 Where to Show ...... 10 Questions ...... 12 New Books ...... 56 Itinerary ...... 14 Classified Advertising ...... 86 Comment: Our Turf by Nancy Frommer LaPointe...... 18 Index to Advertisers ...... 88

News 8c Retrospect

-*** . Record Price for Ken Price Cups ...... 59 Women/Paint/Earth ...... 69 Celebrations After three years support­ OSHA Ruling Awaited ...... 59 Paul Stein ...... 70 ing himself as a studio potter, Jim Con­ Swiss Biennial...... 59 Lucy Breslin...... 70 nell realized that ultimately he is an “insti­ Vivika and Otto Heino ...... 59 Sally Chapman/Carolyn Wagner...... 72 tutional” potter, a product of the system, Larry DesJarlais...... 60 Maria Simon ...... 72 and that he would like to be a part of that Mark Ferri...... 60 Harrison McIntosh ...... 74 system. Far from limiting creativity, “there Linda Shusterman/Alan Willoughby.. 62 David Schirm ...... 74 is a freedom in schools you don’t find in Pamela Young ...... 62 Show of Hands Series ...... 74 your own studios”; page 35. Tom Suomalainen ...... 63 Best of Ohio Design...... 76 The Ancient Southwest Michigan Ceramics ’89...... 76 Bruno La Verdiere with works The cover by Susan Shoobe ...... 63 Japanese Influences ...... 76 in progress and “Lake Shore Guardian,” New York Benefit ...... 66 Elyse Saperstein...... 78 left, solid stoneware to 9 inches thick, stained black. His story about the major Ronald Baron ...... 66 Len Eichler...... 78 influences he encountered on the path J. M. Cohen/Vaughan Smith ...... 66 Patti Warashina...... 87 from a monastery to his own private stu­ Juan Granados...... 68 Robert Turner...... 87 dio begins on page 22. Photo: Joseph Levy. Richard Burkett ...... 68 McKenzie Smith ...... 88 October 1989 5 We, too, would like to publish high-quality magazine should not attempt to promote Letters accounts of the potters you mention, and want new to styles unless these represent the high see these good people recognized as they deserve. standard of skill which all potters inherit as Accomplishing this involves active cooperation a legacy (and a burden) from the past. Our by the artists in question, experienced authors ultimate critical assessment is in the form interested in them, and access to all the associated of our subscription renewal—real money! color transparencies and black-and-white photos Some issues quite frankly don’t justify it. Generation Gap which help make an article visually worthy of its Bronwyn and Tony Clarke Although we are recent subscribers, we subject. As any of our successful authors will tell Bawley Point, New South Wales have studied years of past issues. [But] I you, that’s not a very easy thing to do. Dale Australia have one large objection. I’m really tired of Haworth just accomplished this for Warren reading about new kids, Japanese and Eng­ MacKenzie in our last issue, although we ve been Masters of Disguise lish potters, etc., when there are some won­ talking to Dale and others for years about an We in Dallas discovered a new use for derful older potters that CM never gives article on Warren. Tom Turner is currently work­our back issues of Ceramics Monthly. You credit to. For example: ing on an article prospect for Harding Black. might like to try this too. Ishmael Soto of Fredericksburg, Texas, The problem is further complicated by the does wonderful work, and is so interesting strong preference expressed by our subscribers for to talk to. first-person accounts in order to hear the story, the Harding Black of San Antonio, Texas, is technical information, the evaluations, all in the a master potter. His glazes are unbeliev­ potter’s own words. And if the subject can tell able. He has stood behind a wheel for 54 his/her own story, it’s a better record for history years and who cares? He is so humble and because it reveals directly what the artist says modest, he has never really been recog­ rather than filtering through a biographer’s view­ nized for what he is. point which may or may not be completely accu­ Charles Lakofsky of Bowling Green, rate. Nevertheless, if you or any other authors/ Ohio—such good work and such a nice subscribers would be interested in taking on a man. profile of one of the fine potters you mention, Floy Shaffer, a former student of Lakof­ simply write for a copy of CM’s “Writing and sky, has a technique of bringing up color Photographic Guidelines, ” Box 12448, Colum­ with an acetylene torch. Beautiful. bus, Ohio 43212. We will send it to you immedi­ The Texas Gang Richard M. Lincoln of Fort Worth, ately, and with luck we will be publishing the Dallas Texas, has unbelievable new work. articles you seek in the months ahead. But do James and Nan McKinnell of Fort note the letter which follows this one for a sense Hopper of Series Applause Collins, Colorado, are the epitome of mas­ the diversity of folks who make up our audience. Today I was glancing at “Letters” in the ter potters. They are witty and wonderful, We will continue to bring you the full breadth ofMay issue, and saw Robin Hopper’s answer and their work is magnificent. the interesting, fascinating, and sometimes con­to some comments about his articles [on Frances Senska up in Bozeman, Mon­ founding world of ceramics as events occur eachglaze color development in the September tana, is another great I’d like to read about. month. 1988-February 1989 issues]. Unfortunately, I don’t remember reading anything Finally, we apologize for and deeply regret theI missed Karl Platt’s comments, or this let­ about Warren MacKenzie, Don Frith or Itinerary listing to which you rightfully objected. ter [rebutting Platt’s views] would have been Gerry Williams (editor of Studio Potter) ei­ We have redoubled our efforts to see that all written sooner. ther. events listed are significant enough to warrant Not only did I read Mr. Hopper’s ar­ Sorry to get on the soap box, but I feel publication in that column.—-Ed. ticles with great interest, I made copies for the older generation needs to be recog­ my files on colors and glazes, and took the nized. It’s a crime for them not to have had This is my first subscription in seven liberty of passing copies to several of my any publicity. years. Somehow I do not find the magazine friends. As for younger potters, how about Tom as interesting as it used to be. It seems to me What’s more, I quoted from them in Turner and Gail Russell of Delaware, Ohio? that CM pretty much stays up only with several papers I presented to ceramic They are the most delightful people and people who are involved with universities groups. If the Bulletin of the American Ce­ their work is to die for. and colleges. And there’s a lot of coverage ramic Society would occasionally publish There are also two Colorado potters CM on older artists. It would be nice to hear of comparable articles, it would be to the in­ should do something on: Timothy Q. new people who are not involved with terest of the industrial ceramic world. Johnson of Morrison, and Meryl Howell of schools. There are a lot of them out there. To you, Robin Hopper, I extend my Evergreen. Margareth Bezuhly thanks for having written them. Inciden­ One more thing, while I’m complain­ Grass Valley, Calif. tally, I am a ceramic engineer, a fellow of ing: CM really should check out the events the American Ceramic Society, a fairly well- listed in Itinerary. We drove over 200 miles, Ceramics Takes a Giant Step known person in the industrial ceramic on treacherous roads, in the heat, to the If you look at modern history, you can world and have sold Mason Ceramic Colors third annual Arts & Crafts Festival in Marble, see that no single art has had such big for industrial uses for over 30 years. Colorado. There was a marble sculptor, a success/progress in so short a time as ce­ A.J. Gitter basket maker, a lady with crocheted ani­ ramics. In just 45-50 years, ceramics made New York City mals and wooden Disney plaques, a real a giant step like no other. estate salesman with his flyers, a woman Stajevic Branislav Hopper and Strontium with jars of potpourri, one potter and one Belgrade The April issue is a particularly fine ceramist. The potter, ThanosJohnson, had Yugoslavia one—or is it just that it was there to greet some lovely work and we bought a piece. me after a long winter’s absence? The ceramist had mugs and plates—quite Skill Is a Standard The query about strontium was most common. All were set up in a dusty, rocky It appears at times that in order to pre­ illuminating. field. What a disappointment. We had taken sent something new and “interesting” in This winter I was able to run some tests four people with us. The man selling hot each issue, CM focuses on a style of pottery to check out Robin Hopper’s statement (in dogs was doing the biggest business. which is relatively bereft of technical skill. his wonderful articles) that strontium has Name withheld by request While accepting change and progress, the the same color effects as barium. In the

6 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 7 Letters be importing lead poisoning. This should be of particular concern to potters; be­ cause, when cases of lead poisoning from pottery do occur, apprehension sweeps the tests I ran (direct gram for gram substitu­ ignorant, and we all are tarred with the tion of strontium for barium) I found a brush of suspicion. Several years ago, I wrote satisfying consistency of color. Because I to the U.S. Customs Department, as well as was working with clays different from mine, the Food and Drug Administration, to ask also at slightly lower temperatures, and did what restrictions are imposed on pottery not make that many tests, I cannot make a brought in from abroad. At the time there firm statement; nevertheless, it appears that weren’t any (for tourist-type “importation.” it is definitely worthwhile to use strontium There may be/have been rules for com­ for barium in blue-greens. The color’s mercial imports). beauty offsets the higher cost. Some sort of warning, at least, should be For example, Hobart Cowles’s Copper issued to tourists, along with their pass­ Blue Green Glaze (see Ceramics Monthly, ports. It is not too much to require quaran­ June/July/August 1984) is lovely with stron­ tine and testing for brought-in pots. If this tium as in the following recipe: seems “outrageous,” let me remind you that all kinds of products cannot be brought Copper Blue Green Glaze into the United States (some plants, some (Cone 5) foods) and the Agriculture Department Lithium Carbonate ...... 4.0 % even has rules about taking plants from Strontium Carbonate...... 26.0 one state to another, where there is a dan­ Whiting ...... 10.0 ger of spreading plant disease. K-200 Feldspar...... 60.0 Lili Krakowski 100.0% Constableville, N.Y. Add: Tin Oxide...... 7.0 % Copper Carbonate...... 2-4.5 % Motivation The original recipe calls for Kingman feld­ One especially inspirational CM article spar, but I have used Custer feldspar as well was “Sunday Mornings Off?” by Nancy as K-200. Monsebroten (October 1988). Trying to About costs: Strontium costs 800 more “get it going” out of my garage requires per pound (the biggest difference I could that kind of motivation. Thank you, Ms. locate in my catalogs) than barium. It seems Monsebroten; your work is wonderful. to me (as it also does when I consider tin Debra Lansdowne substitutes) that if a potter’s survival de­ Saint Petersburg, Fla. pends on such economic fine-tuning, it is too precarious for him/her to go on. Cer­ Alienating Effluvia tainly (as with tin) it is not worthwhile to use While admitting a bias toward functional strontium instead of barium in a ho-hum work, I see no conflict in enjoying presenta­ glaze that can be replaced by another glaze tions of the full spectrum of ceramics, in­ using neither, nor is it worthwhile to use tin cluding sculpture and “derivative” forms when zirconium or titanium dioxide does (even those executed by so-called “artists” the job. But surely for special effects the who disdain the term “craft”). What alien­ extra cost should not be a deterrent. ates me is the pretentiousness which pro­ As to strontium itself: One often won­ duces slabs, dribbles and other effluvia and ders if all this testing is worth it. It definitely calls it ART. is! Hopper is the first writer I’ve found who Paul Weinberg links strontium to barium. All my books San Francisco basically say strontium is just like calcium, but costlier. Wollastonite was not available Better Then Than Now to potters when I started out. It now is an I recently acquired some copies of CM invaluable material. from the early ’70s. It was a better magazine As to toxicity: Some days, reading Ce­ then than now. ramics Monthly I wake up convinced I gotta Francis W. Moe be dead! Without suggesting a return to my Fall City, Wash. student days when we handled raw lead barehanded, and never wore masks, I do Belonging to the Real World think many young potters have gone too CM not only provides inspiration to stu­ far on the path of caution. Remember that dents, but perhaps, more importantly, en­ potters Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach and courages them to believe that there is a Marguerite Wildenhain lived long lives. “real world” of ceramics outside of college, Lucie Rie is in her eighties. I do not think to which the sufficiently dedicated may we are a high-risk group— if we exercise belong. reasonable caution and practice reason­ Susan Rose able hygiene. Grand Junction, Colo. What is very worrisome, however, is the implication in that excellent article about Share your thoughts with other readers. All letters Spanish folk pottery [April 1989 issue]— must be signed, but names will be withheld on that lead-glazed ware is still for sale in the request. Mail to: The Editor, Ceramics Monthly, rest of the world, that much of it is beautiful Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212; or FAX to and tempting to tourists, and that we may (614) 488-4561.

8 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 9 from a maximum of 5 slides. Awards: $1100. ered November 4 or November 6. Cash awards. Where to Show Entry fee: $20. Contact Galeria Mesa, Box 1466, Commission: 30%. Fees: $8 first entry, $4 each Mesa 85211; or phone (602) 644-2242. additional entry; for members, $7 first entry, $3 Exhibitions, Fairs, Festivals and Sales New York, New York “American Crafts Awards” each additional entry. For prospectus, write Main (Spring 1990 exhibition and coverage in Metro­ Line Center of the Arts, Old Buck Road and politan Home) is juried from a maximum of 3 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford 19041; or phone International Exhibitions slides. Entry fee: $20. Jurors: Michael Monroe, (215) 525-0272. curator, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institu­ October 20 entry deadline tion; Kevin Walz, president, Walz Design; Donna Warrensburg, Missouri “Greater Midwest In­ Warner, editor, Food and Design, Metropolitan Fairs, Festivals and Sales ternational V” (January 16-February 16,1990) is Home; Mildred Smertz, editor-in-chief, Architec­ October 11 entry deadline open to all artists, 21 years and older, working in tural Record; Kenneth vonRoenn, Jr., architect/ Venice, Florida “Second Annual Downtown any media. Juried from slides of 3 entries (maxi­ glass designer, grand prize winner of the first Venice Art Fest ’89” (November 11-12) is juried mum 2 views per entry). $1500 in awards, plus American Crafts Awards; andjames Wines, presi­ from slides or photos. Fee: $85. Send sase to exhibition contracts. Send sase (business size) to dent, SITE. Contact American Crafts Awards, Howard Alan Promotions, 1 North University Billi R. S. Rothove, Art Center Gallery, Central Kraus Sikes, Inc., 1232 Madison Avenue, New Drive, Suite A-310, Plantation, Florida 33324; or Missouri State University, Warrensburg 64093; York 10128; or phone (212) 410-4110. phone (305) 472-3755. or call (816) 429-4481. October 9 entry deadline October 13 entry deadline October 30 entry deadline Kirksville, Missouri Northeast Missouri State Oklahoma City, Oklahoma “24th Annual Festi­ Saint Louis, Missouri “Form and Function: University’s second annual “National Art Com­ val of the Arts” (April 24-29,1990) isjuriedfrom Teapots II” (February 1-28,1990) is juried from petition” (February 7-March 1, 1990) is juried five slides. Contact 1990 Festival of the Arts, Arts 3 slides of functional, tea-related objects. Jurors: from slides.Juror:John Perreault. Entry fee: $15. Council of Oklahoma City at Festival Plaza, 400 Paul Dresang, Jerry Rothman and Tom Turner. Contact Northeast Missouri State University, West California, Oklahoma City 73102; or phone Entry fee: $10. Contact BarbaraJedda, 6640 Del- National Art Competition, Division of Fine Arts, (405) 236-1426. mar, Saint Louis 63130; or phone (314) 725- Baldwin Hall 118, Kirksville 63501; or phone October 14 entry deadline 1177 or 725-1151. (816) 785-4430. Washington, D.C. “1990 Washington Craft November 17 entry deadline November 10 entry deadline Show” (April 19-22,1990) is juried from 5 slides. Larchmont, New York “International Art Hori­ Mesa, Arizona “Fish Tales” (April 6-May 5, Jurors: Christina Bertoni, ceramist and associate zons” (December 27, 1989-January 14, 1990) is 1990) is juried from slides. Fee: $7. Awards: professor of three-dimensional design at the juried from a minimum of 3 slides. $8000 in $1000. Contact Fish Tales, Galeria Mesa, Box Rhode Island School of Design; Sharon Church, awards. Contact International Art Horizons, 1466, Mesa 85211; or phone (602) 644-2242. jeweler and chairperson of crafts at the Univer­ Department PR, Box 1091, Larchmont 10538; or December 30 entry deadline sity of Arts, Philadelphia; and Paul Smith, con­ phone (914) 633-6661. Gatlinburg, Tennessee “From Here to There: sultant and director emeritus of the American December 1 entry deadline Vehicles for New Forms/New Functions” (Feb­ Craft Museum, New York City. Entry fee: $25. New Haven, Connecticut“Fourth Annual ruary 24-May 19, 1990) is juried from slides. Send sase to Smithsonian Associates Women’s Women in the Visual Arts” (March 1-31, 1990), Juror: Michael Monroe, Renwick Gallery cura- Committee, Arts Sc Industries Building, Room open only to women, is juried from slides. Juror: tor-in-charge. Cash awards. Entry fee: $15. For 1465, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Nancy Spero, artist. Entry fee: $15. Send sase to further information contact Arrowmont School 20560; or phone (202) 357-4000. Erector Square Gallery, 315 Peck St., Building of Arts and Crafts, Box 567, Gatlinburg 37738; or October 15 entry deadline 20, New Haven 06513; or phone (203) 785-1273. phone (615) 436-5860. San Francisco, California “ACC Craft Fair” January 15, 1990 entry deadline January 15, 1990 entry deadline (August 8-12, 1990) is juried from slides. Entry Santa Fe, New Mexico “Santa Fe ArtFest” (June Berkeley, California “The Berkeley Art Project” fee: $15. Booth fee: $625-$885. Contact Ameri­ 4-10,1990) is juried from slides of up to 5 works. (February 5-March 3,1990 showing for finalists; can Craft Enterprises, Box 10, New Paltz, New $700,000 in awards; including a $130,000 grand permanent display for winner) is juried from York 12561; or phone (914) 255-0039. prize. Entry fee: $100 for adults, $50 for artists proposals for a permanent, site-specific work to Atlanta, Georgia “A Salute to American Craf ts” under age 19. For further information contact be created on Sproul Plaza at the University of (May 4-6, 1990) is juried from slides. Entry fee: ArtFest, 535 Cordova Road, Suite 208, Santa Fe California. Jurors: Richard Andrews, director of $15. Booth fee: $375-$560. Contact American 87501; or phone (505) 982-1132. the Henry Gallery at the University of Washing­ Craft Enterprises, Box 10, New Paltz, New York Geneva, Switzerland “Biennale Orlandi” ton, Seattle; Joseph Esherick, professor emeritus 12561; or phone (914) 255-0039. (Spring 1990), a design contest for walls and at the University of California; artist David Ire­ West Springfield, Massachusetts “ACC Craft Fair” floors, is juried from a proposal describing the land; Suzanne Lacy, artist and dean of the School (June 19-24, 1990) is juried from 5 slides. Entry design and specifications for ceramic tiles of Arts at the California College of Arts and fee: $15. Booth fee: $450-$950. Contact Ameri­ measuring 21.6x21.6 centimeters (or a standard Crafts, Oakland; author Lucy Lippard; and Ray­ can Craft Enterprises, Box 10, New Paltz, New proportion thereof). Juried by an international mond Saunders, artist and professor at the Cali­ York 12561; or phone (914) 255-0039. panel of artists, designers, architects, curators fornia College of Arts and Crafts. Up to $70,000 New York, New York “American Craft at the and journalists. Awards: first place, SFrl 2,000 funding (covering fee, travel expenses and fabri­ Armory” (May 11-13,1990) is juried from slides. (approximately $7020); second, SFr8000 (ap­ cation) for the winner; the 2-4 finalists will re­ Entry fee: $15. Booth fee: $1875-$2350. Contact proximately $4680); third, SFr6000 (approxi­ ceive $2000 each.Contact Berkeley Art Project, American Craft Enterprises, Box 10, New Paltz, mately $3510); and six prizes of SFr2000 (ap­ Department of Art, University of California, New York 12561; or phone (914) 255-0039. proximately $1170) each. The three first prizes Berkeley 94720; or phone (415) 848-8384. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania “Germantown include reproduction rights. Contact Biennale January 30, 1990 entry deadline Friends School Craft Show” (March 9-11,1990) Orlandi, Mat Securitas Express S.A., Box 289, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada “4th National is juried from slides. Booth fee: $150. Contact CH-1211 Geneva 26. Biennial of Ceramics” (June 12-August23,1990) Craft Show, Germantown Friends School, 31 January 20, 1990 entry deadline is juried from 3 slides. $18,000 in awards. Entry West Coulter Street, Philadelphia 19144; or Zagreb, Yugoslavia ‘World Triennial Exhibi­ fee: $25. Contact National Biennial of Ceramics, phone (215) 438-5714. tion of Ceramics/Zagreb” (June 21-September C.P. 1596, Trois-Rivieres G9A 5L9; or phone October 31 entry deadline 13, 1990). Awards. Contact Ulupuh, Starcevicev (819) 374-3242. Miami Beach, Florida “16th Annual Festival of Trg 6-2, 41000 Zagreb. February 1, 1990 entry deadline the Arts” (February 10-11,1990) is juried from 3 April 30, 1990 entry deadline McPherson, Kansas “Aesthetics ’89” (April slides. Entry fee: $5. Booth fee: $150 for a 10x10- Vallauris, France “12th International Biennial 4-29, 1990) is juried from slides. Open to all foot space. Contact Sheila Kurte, Fine Arts Board of Ceramic Arts” (July 1-October 31, 1990) is media. Juror: Wayne Conyers. Cash awards. En­ of Miami Beach, Department FL, Bin O, Miami juried from slides. Awards: 40,000 francs (ap­ try fee: $20. Send sase to Artists League, Box 252, Beach 33119; or phone (305) 673-7733. proximately $5600), 15,000 francs (approxi­ McPherson 67460. November 1 entry deadline mately $2100), and 4 gold medals. For further Highland Park, Illinois “30th Annual Festival information contact the Biennial Committee, Regional Exhibitions of the Arts” (March 17-18,1990) is juried from 5 Hotel de Ville, 06200 Vallauris. slides. Commission: 25%. Send sase to Art Selec­ October 19 entry deadline tion Committee, 461 Hillside, Highland Park National Exhibitions New Rochelle, New York “The New Rochelle Art 60035; or phone (312) 432-3377 or 432-2879. Association’s 75th Annual Open Juried Exhibi­ Columbus, Ohio“Ohio Union Artisan’s Festi­ October 6 entry deadline tion” (October 20-November 9) is juried from val” (November 30-December 1) is juried from Mesa, Arizona “12th Annual Vahki Exhibi­ works—hand delivered on October 19, 5-9 P.M. 5 slides or photos. Booth fee: $55-$65. Contact tion” (January 26-February 24, 1990) is juried Juror: Rosanne Raab. Awards: $2600, plus art Cynthia Kintigh, Ohio State University, 1739 materials. Send sase to Andrew LaCombe, 148 North High Street, Columbus 43210; or phone Send announcements of juried exhibitions, fairs, festi­Main Street, New Rochelle 10802; or phone (614) 292-2324. vals and sales at least four months before the event’s (914) 235-4554 or 633-7677. December 15 entry deadline entry deadline (please add one month for listings inNovember 6 entry deadline Spring Valley, New York “22nd Invitational Pot­ July and two months for those in August) to The Haverford, Pennsylvania “Annual Open Juried tery Show and Sale” (May 4-6, 1990) is juried Editor, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Craft Exhibition” (November 19-December 15) from slides. Send resume to Green Meadow Ohio 43212; or phone (614) 488-8236. FAX an­ is open to artists residing in Delaware, New Jer­ Waldorf School, Attention: Pottery Show, Hun­ nouncements to (614) 488-4561. sey and Pennsylvania. Juried from works deliv­ gry Hollow Road, Spring Valley 10977.

10 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 11 the range of most potters’ capabilities or Questions tools. Used presses are available, sometimes Answered by the from press manufacturers or from middle­ men who advertise in industrial journals CM Technical Staff such as Ceramic Industry or the American Ceramic Society Bulletin. (You can see these magazines without subscribing by using your local library’s inter-library loan pro­ gram.) Bargains are sometimes available whenever an industrial ceramics business is Q I am interested in knowing something about sold at auction. Talk to your local materials the industrial process of dry pressing. How is itsupplier, who often is well tuned to such done, and is it possible to do this with tile on asales as a source of supplies, or watch news­ studio-pottery scale ? Are there any special prob­papers and trade journals for public list­ lems associated with dry pressing? How about ings of such sales. Presses can sometimes be also letting us in on ways to obtain an indus- obtained through government surplus, and trial-scale press inexpensively ?—L.L. are not relegated to ceramics businesses Dry pressing, more properly called semi­ alone. Pizzas are typically manufactured dry pressing or dust pressing, is carried out with the same kind of press, so the end of by introducing and compacting a powdered Mamma Mia’s Authentic Pizza production clay body containing only 6%-10% mois­ could be the start of a potter’s tile business. ture (by weight) into a strong die which has Remember, though, that once a used press been fabricated to reproduce a particular is purchased, it must be moved. And, of ceramic shape. (Too much water in the course, there are new presses being offered powdered batch, and the liquid interferes to potters—for further details about them, with compression; not enough water, and consult the advertising in CM. the piece simply won’t hold together.) It is the surface tension of water which draws Q What is “synthetic wollastonite ” ? Can I sub­ clay particles tightly together, eventually to stitute it directly for regular wollastonite in glazes form a durable dry piece prior to firing; and bodies, or is there something different about and 8% moisture is the average minimum it?—RE. required to create that physical bonding Synthetic wollastonite is a form of (3- when combined with a pressure of about 2 wollastonite made by heating fine sand with tons per square inch. Density resulting from limestone, and more often than not it can this process will exceed that produced by be substituted directly for any naturally the other potters’ processes. occurring wollastonite. To avoid confusion, Semidry pressing is particularly useful though, ceramists and suppliers should for making objects where warpage should specify “synthetic” “cc-wollastonite” or “(3- be kept to a minimum. Additionally, drying wollastonite” when listing the material. Al­ time is reduced because of the lack of sig­ len Dinsdale explains the differences in his nificant water content, but oddly there is book, Pottery Science: Materials, Processes

an approximate 0.5% increase in size which and Products: “Wollastonite, CaO*SiO 2 occurs, slowly, after pressing. While this occurs in two principal crystal forms. The expansion is typically insignificant to pot­ a-form, often known as pseudo-wollastonite, ters, it can pose a substantial problem in is stable at temperatures above about the manufacture of ceramic parts requir­ 1125°C [2060°F], and occurs naturally or ing close tolerances, as can certain uneven may be readily synthesized.... The (3-form is pressures caused by variances in the flow the one of most interest to ceramists, al­ and compaction of powdered clay. Because though the a-form does offer a higher of the latter, substantial design limitations thermal expansion. The (3-form has an are placed on objects which may be suc­ expansion of about 0.3% to 500°C [930°F], cessfully dust pressed without faults. which is just about tolerable from the glaz­ Both mechanical and hydraulic presses ing point of view. However, there are cer­ will form ceramic objects using this proc­ tain features of its behavior in bodies that ess, and tiles are one of the leading kinds of make for problems.... Bodies containing objects commonly made in the semidry wollastonite tend to have a very short firing pressed state. range, and there is often excessive reaction There are currently some studio potters between the body and the glaze. Moreover, dry pressing with standard, commercial at biscuit [bisque]-firing temperatures, hydraulic presses; there are few reasons anorthite [a feldspathic material having you should not try it. But among these are the ideal formula CaO*Al 2O3*2SiO 2] tends some production problems, usually related to result from interaction between wollas­ to variations in pressed density, which af­ tonite and clay, thus further reducing the fect glaze application, etc. Clay powder stick­ thermal expansion. For these reasons, the ing to the die may also be a problem be­ use of wollastonite in whiteware bodies has cause all the forces of pressing tend to not developed on a wide commercial scale.” create a strong suction between the die and the powder being compressed. Subscribers ’ questions are welcome and those of But as you intimate, the biggest hurdle general interest will be answered in this column. for most potters is the substantial cost of a Due to volume, letters may not be answered per­ press and its required dies. While a press sonally. Address the Technical Staff, Ceramics may be self-fabricated, it is typically beyondMonthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212.

12 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 13 “Aesthetic Upbringing in Modern Society” by through October 29Jerry Caplan, “Collonade”; at Itinerary Inge L0nning, University of Oslo; “Skills in Craft Gallery G, 211 Ninth Street. and the Changing Moral Nature of Skill” by Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre October 1-27 Marti Conferences, Exhibitions, Fairs, Peter Dormer, author and art critic, London; Boylan, “Images,” raku vessels and wall reliefs; at Workshops and Other Events to Attend “Coming to Terms with the Past: The Need for a King’s College. New Idea of Tradition” by Rosemary Hill, art Tennessee, Smithville October 18-November 20 critic, London; “The Very Idea of Art” by Ted Robert Carlson, smoke-fired vessels. October Cohen, University of Chicago; “Aesthetic Re­ 22-November 11 Clifton Pearson, ceramics and search: The Troika of Scholar, Critic and Con­ glass; at Appalachian Center for Crafts, Route 3. Conferences noisseur” by Garth Clark, ceramics historian, Texas, Houston October 24-November 18 Sonja author and dealer, New York; “Post-Memphis, Light, “Dreams and Visions,” clay sculpture and California, San Jose January 10-13, 1990 “The Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and mixed-media wall relief; at Archway Gallery, 2600 Case for Clay In Education II: Culture and Tradi­ Successes of New Design” by Matteo Thun, ce­ Montrose Boulevard. tion,” organized by Studio Potter magazine, San ramic artist and professor, Milan, Italy; “Philoso­ Texas, San Antonio through October 14 William Jose State University and the Santa Clara County phy and Imagery in Ceramic Art” by Richard Wilhelmi, “Neo-Classic Clay”; at Southwest Craft Office of Education, will include presentations Notkin, artist, Myrtle Point, Oregon; and “Na­ Center, 300 Augusta. on “Philosophy and Overview: Perspectives on tional Policies and Artistic Individuality,” closing Vermont, Bennington through October 15 Brother the Importance of Clay in the Curriculum,” “Clay speech, by Eric Rudeng, historian, publisher and Thomas Bezanson; at the Bennington Museum, and Cultural Identity: a Multidisciplinary and director of the Norwegian Foundation. Events: West Main Street. Multicultural Approach,” “Curriculum Models: workshops; panel discussions; an international Clay in the Classroom,” “Models of Excellence: student forum; performances; exhibitions, in­ Scenarios in the Schools” and “Idea/Informa- cluding an “Instant Exhibition” for artists bring­ Group Ceramics Exhibitions tion Exchange”; plus networking sessions, key­ ing three works; plus social gatherings. Fee: $150; Arizona, Tempe through November 12 “American note address, panel discussions, exhibitions and students $100. Contact OICS-1990, Annie Studio Ceramics: 1920-1950.” October 22-Janu- social activities. Contact Studio Potter, Box 65, Gisvold, Executive Secretary, National Academy ary 7, 1990 “The Cooper Family Collection of Goffstown, New Hampshire 03045; or phone of Art and Design, Ullevalsvn. 5, 0165 Oslo 1; or Contemporary American Ceramics”; at Nelson (603) 774-3582. phone 2 20 12 35; or fax 2 11 14 96. Fine Arts Center, Tenth Street and Mill Avenue, Massachusetts, Hyannis October27-29“Ar t: Spirit, Arizona State University. Mystery & Magic,” biennial New England Art Solo Exhibitions California, Carmel October 7-November 4 Karen Education conference. Location: Tara Hyannis Massaro and Peter Kuentzel; at Viewpoint Gal­ Hotel. Contact Carol Gargon, Box 579, More- Arizona, Scottsdale through October 28 Christine lery, 224 Crossroads Boulevard. town, Vermont 05660; or phone (802) 496-4605. Federighi, sculpture in clay, wood and bronze; at California, Los Angeles through October 20 “Clay Michigan, Dearborn October 20“Michigan Mud,” the Hand and the Spirit/Joanne Rapp Gallery, III”; at the Jose Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mount demonstrations in forming, finishing and firing; 4222 North Marshall Way. Saint Mary’s College. plus slides, videos and exhibition. Fee: $5. Con­ California, Davis October 6-November 4 “David through October 29 “In Pursuit of the Dragon: tact Lynne Chytilo, 213 East Oak Street, Albion, Gilhooly Returns to Clay”; at Natsoulas/Nov- Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics”; Michigan 49224; or phone (517) 629-3646. elozo Gallery, 132 E Street, Suite 2A. at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Minnesota, Minneapolis November 9-10 “Pots: California, Los Angeles through October 14Brian Wilshire Boulevard. Focus on Function,” will feature presentations Ransom, musical instruments made from clay; at October 13-November 14 “Ceramics ’89, ” functional by Ken Ferguson, Kansas City Art Institute; San­ Couturier Gallery, 166 N. La Brea Ave. and sculptural vessels by 13 artists; at Freehand, dra Johnstone, Los Altos, California; Ron Mey­ California, Mill Valley October 2-28 Mike Moran, 8413 West Third Street. ers, University of Georgia; Sandy Simon, Berkeley; sculpture and paintings; at Susan Cummins Gal­ California, Santa Ana October 26-November 21 and Betty Woodman, University of Colorado. lery, 32 Miller Avenue. “Clay: A Revisit,” featuring works by 20 artists AJso will include exhibitions of work by confer­ California, Sacramento through October 22 Robert from the United States, West Germany, Holland ence presenters, alumni and current graduate Brady; at Crocker Art Museum, 216 0 Street. and Japan; at Rancho Santiago College, 17 and students, and ‘Warren MacKenzie, Potter: A California, San Diego through October 6 Yoon- Bristol Streets. Retrospective.” For further information contact chung Kim, “Heart and Its Myths”; at Bourbeaux California, West Hollywood through October 14 Leslie Denny, 220 Nolte Center, 315 Pillsbury Gallery, 2461 San Diego Avenue. “Contrasts,” kimono-inspired work by Mary Dr., SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis California, San Francisco through October 13 Ichino and porcelain vessels by Armin Muller; at 55455; or phone (612) 625-0727. Carole Aoki; at Andrea Schwartz Gallery, 300 MOA Art Gallery, 8552 Melrose Avenue. Missouri, Kansas City April 5-9, 1990 “National DeHaro Street. Florida, Lakeland through November 19 “Fired Art Education Association Conference”; at the October 3-31 Rudy Autio; at Dorothy Weiss Gal­ with Enthusiasm,” contemporary soup tureens; Hyatt Regency and Westin Crowne Center Ho­ lery, 256 Sutter Street. at Polk Public Museum, 800 East Palmetto Street. tels. For further information contact National October 11-November 4 Robert Brady, ceramic and Georgia, Athens through November 26 “Italian Art Education Association, 1916 Association wood sculpture; at Braunstein/Quay Gallery, 250 Renaissance Maiolica from Southern Collec­ Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091. Sutter Street. tions”; at the Georgia Museum of Art, University New York, New York February 14-17, 1990 “An­ California, West Hollywood October 20-November of Georgia. nual College Art Association Conference”; at the 25 Sana Krusoe, “Being by Touching,” sculpture Georgia, Macon through November 5“Contempo­ New York Hilton. Contact College Art Associa­ meant to be touched; at MOA Art Gallery, 8552 rary Studio Works,” 150-200 objects by Georgia tion, 275 Seventh Avenue, New York 10001; or Melrose Avenue. clay artists, through November 12 “Collected phone (212) 691-1051. Colorado, Golden through October 22 Ellen Spiller, Influences.” through December 3 “Pottery of the Ohio, Cincinnati March 21-24, 1990 “Rediscov­ functional stoneware; at the Foothills Art Cen­ Folk Tradition,” 19th-century Georgia pottery; ery,” annual conference of the National Council ter, 809 Fifteenth Street. and “Aboriginal and African Ceramics”; at the on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA); at Illinois, Chicago through October 10 Daniel Rhodes, Museum of Arts & Sciences, 4182 Forsyth Road. the Omni-Netherland Hotel. Contact Regina sculpture and drawings; at Esther Saks Gallery, Illinois, Chicago through October 21 “Vessels” by Brown, Executive Secretary, Box 1677, Bandon, 311 West Superior Street. Woody Hughes and Gary Erickson. October Oregon 97411. October 28-November 18 Bobbie Newman; at Lill 28-November 18 “Tile Tactile” by Gus Sisto and Street Gallery, 1021 West Lill Street. Jamie Fine; at Lill Street Gallery, 1021 W. Lill St. International Conferences Maryland, Baltimore through October 12 Everette Illinois, Highland Park through October 25 Vessels Busbee, “Creatures of the Bay in Clay”; at Balti­ by David Crane, Val Cushing, Karen Karnes, Norway, Oslo June 6-9, 1990 “Oslo International more Clayworks Gallery, 5706 Smith Ave. Walter Keeler, Lucie Rie and Maria Stewart. Ceramics Symposium” will focus on the relation­ Michigan, Detroit October 13-November 11Toshiko October 28-December 1 “Different Realities,” fea­ ship between art and research. Lecture topics: Takaezu; at Pewabic Pottery, 10125 E. Jefferson. turing work by Rudy Autio, Tony Hepburn, Susan “Implications of Research and Aesthetics in Art Minnesota, Minneapolis through December 7 Low-Beer and Victor Spinski; at Martha Schnei­ Education,” keynote address by Arne Ase, artist ‘Warren MacKenzie, Potter: A Retrospective”; at der Gallery, 2055 Green Bay Road. and professor, National Academy of Art and University Art Museum, University of Minne­ Kansas, Hays through October 5“Second Annual Design, Oslo; “Philosophical Basis for Research sota, Northrop Memorial Auditorium, 84 Church Invitational Klay Koncepts ’89,” juried national; in Contemporary Ceramics” by Gunnar Dan- Street, Southeast. at Hays Art Council, 112 E. 11 St. bolt, University of Bergen; “Artistic Expression New Mexico, Santa Fe October 6-25 Ward Kerr; at Michigan, Royal Oakthrough October 7 “The Ex­ and Research” by Marie Therese Coullery, cura­ Elaine Horwitch Gallery, 129 W. Palace Ave. pressive Teapot,” interpretations by 70 Ameri­ tor, Musee Ariana and secretary general of the New York, New York through January 7, 1990 can and Canadian artists; at Swidler Gallery, International Academy of Ceramics, Geneva; George Ohr, “Portrait of an American Potter”; at Washington Square Plaza, 308 W. Fourth St. American Craft Museum, 40 W. 53 St. Minnesota, Minneapolis through December 7 Send announcements of conferences, exhibitions, Ohio,ju­ Columbus October 20-November 29 Curtis ‘Warren MacKenzie, Teacher: Followers in the ried fairs, workshops and other events at least two and Suzan Benzie, “Pacesetter VII,” porcelain Functional Tradition,” includes works by 16 for­ months before the month of opening (add one monthvessels for and lighting; at Ohio Designer Craftsmen mer students; at University Art Museum, Univer­ listings in July and two months for those in August)Gallery, to 2164 Riverside Drive. sity of Minnesota, Northrop Memorial Audito­ The Editor, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Colum­ Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh through October 9 Jin- rium, 84 Church St., SE. bus, Ohio 43212; or phone (614) 488-8236. FAX an­ song Kim, carved porcelains; at Manchester Minnesota, Saint Paul through October 7 “The nouncements to (614) 488-4561. Craftsmen’s Guild, 1815 Metropolitan St. Ceramic Vessel,” works by 24 regional and na-

14 Ceramics Monthly

Itinerary Missouri, Saint Louis October 8-30 “The per Crafts Star Show”; at Giants Stadium Club, Cranbrook Tradition,” featuring works by Meadowlands Complex. Cranbrook faculty and alumni; at Craft Alliance New York, New York October 31 “Bewitched by Gallery, 6640 Delmar Boulevard. Craft,” benefit auction for the American Craft tional artists; at Grand Avenue Frame & Gallery, New Jersey, Millbum October 13-November 11 Museum; at the Puck Building, Lafayette and 964 Grand Avenue. “Anniversary Showcase,” featuring claywork by Houston Streets, Soho. Missouri, Saint Louis October 1-November 15 Randy Steven Schrepferman; at Sheila Nussbaum Gal­ North Carolina, Asheville October 20-22 “42nd and Jan McKeachieJohnston. October 7-31 Rob lery, 358 Millburn Avenue. Annual Guild Fair”; at Asheville Civic Center. Barnard and Steve Erspamer; at Pro-Art, 5595 New Mexico, Los Alamos through October 8 Ohio, Chagrin October 27-29 “Pottery Show and Pershing. “Masks.” October 13-November 12 “Artists and Sale”; at Chagrin Falls National Guard Armory, New Jersey, Red Bank through October 7 Wendy Artisans,” statewide juried show; at Fuller Lodge Washington Street. Williams and Christine Knox, sculpture. October Art Center, 2132 Central Avenue. Ohio, Dayton November 3-5 “Dayton Art Expo 14-November 4 Beth Mueller and Wesley Ander- New Mexico, Santa Fe through October 31 “Bellas ’89”; at Sinclair Community College, 444 West egg; at Art Forms, 16 Monmouth Street. Artes 1989,” includes clayworks by Bennett Bean, Third Street. New York, North Tonawanda October 6-31 ‘West­ Ruth Duckworth and Lola Logsdon; at Bellas Oklahoma, Broken Bow October 21-22 “1989 ern New York’s Made of Clay 1989”; at Carnegie Artes Gallery, 301 Garcia at Canyon Rd. Riverfront Arts and Crafts Show”; at Beavers Cultural Center, 240 Goundry Street. New York, Rochester through October 17“Young Bend State Park. North Carolina, Charlotte through November 12 Americans,” juried national of craft works by Pennsylvania, Champion October 1, 8 and 15 “Au- “English Creamware circa 1760-1810: Fifty Years artists between the ages of 18 and 35; at Memo­ tumnfest”; at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. of Fashion and Fancy”; at Mint Museum, 2730 rial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia November 2-5 “13th Randolph Road. Ohio, Defiance October 1-31 “Young Ohioans,” Annual Philadelphia Craft Show”; at the Phila­ Pennsylvania, Erie through October 15 “Teco: Art juried exhibition of craft works by Ohio artists delphia Civic Center, 34 Street and Civic Center Pottery of the Prairie School,” terra cotta pro­ between the ages of 18 and 30; at Defiance Boulevard. duced between 1900 and 1920 by Gates Potteries College, 701 North Clinton Street. Tennessee, Nashville October 27-29 The 12th in Illinois; at Erie Art Museum, 411 State. Ohio, Toledo through October 29 “Treasures of annual “Tennessee Fall Crafts Fair”; at Nashville Rhode Island, Kingston October 16-30 “The American Folk Art from the Abby Aldrich Convention Center, uptown. Monday Night Mob,” works by 15 Rhode Island Rockefeller Folk Art Center”; at the Toledo Texas, San Antonio October 21-22 Harding Black ceramists; at the South County Art Association, Museum of Art, Monroe St. at Scottwood Ave. studio sale; at 8212 Broadway. 2587 Kingston Road. Pennsylvania, Bethlehem October 7-November 5 Washington, Seattle October 14-15 “WPA Ceramic Texas, Beaumont October 7-27 A dual exhibition Fifth annual ‘Juried Exhibition of Contempo­ Show and Sale”; at Seatde Central Community by Sari Baker and Mary Downing; at the Art rary Crafts”; at Luckenbach Mill Gallery, 459 Old College, Broadway and East Pine. Studio, 1076 Neches. York Road. Virginia, Richmond October 4-December 7 “Impe­ Pennsylvania, Chester Springs October 13-15 Workshops rial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival “Studio Days/Design ’89,” sixth annual exhibi­ David Foundation”; at the Virginia Museum of tion of contemporary crafts; at Chester Springs California, Carmel November 2 7 Elaine Levin lec­ Fine Arts, 2800 Grove Avenue. Studio, Art School Road. ture, “Issues in Contemporary Ceramics”; at Texas, Fort Worth through October 8 “Treasures Crossroads Community Room, 243 Crossroads Ceramics in Multimedia Exhibitions from the Fitzwilliam Museum”; at Kimbell Art Boulevard. For further information contact View­ Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard. point Gallery, 224 Crossroads Boulevard, Carmel Arizona, Phoenix October 11-November 3 “Unpre­ Utah, Salt Lake City through October 7 Dual exhi­ 93923; or phone (408) 624-3369. dictable Nature of Color,” a dual exhibition with bition with sculpture by Suzanne Storer; at Utah California, Sunnyvale October 7 Chris Staley crystalline-glazed porcelain by Joyce Nelson; at Designer Craftsmen Gallery, 38 West 200 South. demonstration; fee: $20. For further informa­ Visual Arts Center Gallery, 214 E. Moreland St. Vermont, Shelburne through October 8 “Envisioned tion contact Tracy White, 550 East Remington, California, Claremont through October 15 Works in a Pastoral Setting”; at Shelburne Farms. Sunnyvale 94086. by faculty artists, including ceramics by John Washington, Seattle October 26-December 31 “Be­ California, Walnut Creek October 14James Mak- Fassbinder and Sjoran Fitzpatrick; at Montgom­ yond the Spirit Path: Chinese Funerary Arts,” ins, demonstration and slides of functional por­ ery Art Gallery, Pomona College. from the Neolithic period to the Tang dynasty; celain; fee: $30. Contact Walnut Creek Arts Edu­ California, Fullerton through October 25“Animals- at Seattle Art Museum, Volunteer Park. cation, Box 8039, Walnut Creek 94596; or phone Multimedia”; at Eileen Kremen Gallery, 619 Wisconsin, Milwaukee October 6-November 4 ‘Ves­ (415) 943-5846. North Harbor. sels”; at A. Houberbocken, Century Building, Connecticut, New Haven October 7Frank Boyden California, Los Angeles through November 5 “Timur 230 West Wells, Suite 202. demonstration; fee: $35. For further informa­ and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture tion contact Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Au­ in the Fifteenth Century”; at Los Angeles County dubon Street, New Haven 06511; or phone (203) Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Fairs, Festivals and Sales 562-4927. California, Sherman Oaks through November 4 Alabama, Birmingham November 4-5 Alabama Florida, Miami November 4-5 A session with Robin “Mask Parade,” including new work by Richard Designer/Craftsmen’s 17th annual sale; at Bir­ Hopper. Contact Ceramic League of Miami, 8873 McColl; at Contemporary Images, 14027 Ven­ mingham Botanical Gardens, Lane Park Road, Southwest 129 Street, Miami 33176; or phone tura Boulevard. Mount Brook Village. (305) 233-2404. California, Walnut Creek October 6-November 10 Arkansas, Heber Springs October 13-15 “Ozark Florida, Tampa October 7-8 Bruno La Verdiere “Crafts by Six,” including ceramics by Sarah Frontier Trail Festival”; at Greers Ferry Lake. demonstration. For further information contact Frederick, Kathleen Hanna, Ed Risak and Scott California, Sacramento October 7-8 “13th An­ the Clay Factory, 804 South Dale Mabry Avenue, Tubby; at Banaker Gallery, 1373 Locust Street. nual Pot Show”; at Country Club Plaza Mall. Tampa 33609; or phone (813) 872-8819. Connecticut, New Haven through October 21 A California, Santa Monica October 27-29 and No­ Indiana, Notre Dame November 18 A session with dual exhibition including recent claywork byjan vember 3-5 “Contemporary Crafts Market”; at John Leach. Contact S. Freed, Potter’s Guild of Cannon; at Creative Arts Workshop Gallery, 80 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, corner of Pico Indiana, 491 Littleton, West Lafayette, Indiana Audubon Street. and Main Streets. 47906; or phone (312) 344-2074. Illinois, Chicago October 2-January 15,1990“1889: Florida, Boca Raton October 28-29 “Second An­ Indiana, South Bend October 5-7 Val Cushing The First Year of the Classical Collection”; at the nual Royal Palm Plaza Festival of the Arts”; at demonstration. Contact South Bend Arts Cen­ Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan Avenue. Palmetto Park Road and Federal Highway. ter, 120 South Saint Joseph Street, South Bend Indiana, Indianapolis through October 27 “Art Florida, Clearwater October 14-15 “10th Annual 46601; or phone (219) 284-9102. League Regional ’89”; at Indianapolis Art League, Northwood Arts & Crafts Festival”; at McMillin Iowa, Iowa City October 5-6 A session with Ron 820 East 67 Street. Boothe Road. Meyers. Contact Ceramics Department, Univer­ Kansas, Wichita through October 8“1989 Wichita Florida, Miami Beach October 14-15 “Third An­ sity of Iowa, Iowa City 52240; or phone (319) National All-Media Crafts Exhibit, ’’juried by T ony nual Miami Beach Lincoln Road Arts Festival”; 335-1792 or 335-1771. Hepburn; at the Wichita Art Association, 9112 at Lincoln Road. Massachusetts, Waltham October 12 “Color in East Central. Florida, Ormond Beach November 4-5 “Halifax Ceramics,” with Jeff Zamek; fee: $40, advance Massachusetts, Boston through January 19, 1990 Art Festival”; at the Casements, Granada Boule­ registration $35. October 26 “Plaster Workshop,” “Twenty Years of Contemporary Craft,” includes vard and Riverside Drive. with Jeff Zamek; fee: $40, advance registration works by Wayne Higby; at the Society of Arts and Florida, Sarasota October 21-22 “St. Armands $35. November 9 “Tile Workshop,” with Jeff Zamek; Crafts, 175 Newbury Street. Circle Festival of the Arts”; at St. Armands Circle. fee: $40, advance registration $35. Contact Cut­ Massachusetts, Northampton October 7-November Florida, Tampa November 4-5 “Second Annual ter Ceramics, 47 Athletic Field Road, Waltham 26 “A Tea Party”; at Ferrin Gallery, Pinch Pot­ Carrollwood Village Center Arts Festival”; at Dale 02254; or phone (800) 225-4332. tery, 179 Main Street. Mabry Highway and Fletcher Road. New Jersey, Demarest October 20 Raku workshop Michigan, Midland October 29-November 25 Maryland, Gaithersburg October 13-15 “14th with Rosemary Aiello; fee: $40, nonmembers “31st Annual Mid-Michigan Competition,” ju­ Annual National Craft Fair”; at Montgomery $60. Contact Old Church Cultural Center & ried exhibition of Michigan craft; at Midland County Fairgrounds. School of Art, 561 Piermont Road, Demarest Center for the Arts, 1801 West Saint Andrews. Maryland, Timonium October 13-15 The 13th 07627; or phone (201) 767-7160. Missouri, Columbia October 12-November 11 Dual annual “Maryland Crafts Festival”; at Maryland North Carolina, Brasstown November 12-18 A exhibition featuring sculpture by Keith Ekstam; State Fairgrounds. session with Bonnie Staffel. For further informa- at Davis Art Gallery, Stephens College. New Jersey, East Rutherford October 20-22 “Su­ Ptease Turn to Page 52

16 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 17 Comment Our Turf by Nancy Frommer LaPointe

Last spring, at the National Council showy flowers, often have sterile seeds. Borque, “impending mood”; Sheri on Education for the Ceramic Arts Only cuttings and clones can insure Fafunwa, “restrained strength”;and (NCECA) conference in Kansas City, their forced survival. Holly Murray, “paradoxical serenity.” anger at commercialism danced a jig Recently, I transplanted nine, young Obviously, clay artists don’t stand at with thirst for well-earned economic black walnut trees. What a job! Their a simple crossroads, but start their ca­ credibility. The unhappy couple took roots were as deep as the tree was tall. reers on a complex rotary [a traffic turns leading. They pounded our turf. No storm, no drought, no lack of sur­ circle, for those of you who have never The drum roll began with William face nutrients would destroy these trees. driven in the Northeast], each exit lead­ Hunt’s keynote address, in which But moving them, breaking their tap ing to a different landscape. We could (among many other points) he re­ roots, killed two trees and set back the never join our lumps of clay (values) ported the recent results of the growth of the others. Later, I thought into a single shrine to glorify our age Christie’s auction [see “Contemporary they were like studio pottery—func­ and insure a place in the history books. Ceramics at Christie’s” in the April 1989 tional, quiet, slow growing and plain Granted, much of the great art of the CM]. At this ceramic masters resale on the outside—glorious inside. past has emerged out of mutually held event, some works fetched a price equal I’ve long thought that people’s val­ values. However, as I recall my history, to a small bungalow in the suburbs. ues are their roots, the stuff that sus­ the real power of the great cultures was The audience was excited by the suc­ tains them. Recently I was privileged to measured by their infrastructures, not cess of clay. But the jig picked up speed. address the Western Massachusetts “As- only their edifices. So I go back to Tony Hepburn reminded us of the one- thinking about that rotary. I worry that night sell-out of Jeff Koons’s recent "...clay, as an architecture each separate highway that leads to show. This multimillion dollar, triple student once described it, is your studio may be quite isolated from opening sold sculpture that glorifies mine. Roads, roots—both conduits of the trivial with unabashed opulence. muscular earth ” nourishment and pathways to dreams. The potters in the audience were Then my mind wanders back to the not angry that Koons, like his prede­ paragus Valley Potters Guild,” whose earth. Perhaps, as ecosystems thrive on cessor Andy Warhol, was selling the members, most with national reputa­ connections and diversity, so do we. I emperor’s new clothes. No, they were tions, are 10- to 20-year veterans of the think of connection as strength, and angry because society was paying big clay scene. So I asked the guild mem­ diversity as power. The roots of our clay bucks for work that was applauded for bers: “What are the values on which community do reach out into all soils its shallow concepts, purposely garbed you draw to create your work?” dry or wet, acid or basic, creating an so scantily in traditional art values that All were silent. I felt foolish for ask­ unerodible turf. Our turf. their rich materials seemed obscene. ing. Then Mara Superior said: “The Which brings us back to that NCECA But what hurt our feeling of commu­ clay itself gives so much, so much more conference. What does all this turf talk nity most were the equations being than paper. It has its own life.” have to do with dancing the jig of suc­ drawn by the listening crowd, whose Francine Ozereko backed up clay’s cess? Everything. I think that Christie’s whispers and sideways glances often inherent power (value) by saying, “I auction was like a massive dose of fertil­ stung their peers. love to work with clay. Frank and I izer for our ceramic roots; and that Later at my favorite coffee shop, two always try to dream up an alternative Koons’s success was a bulldozer push­ thousand miles away from Kansas City, material—papier mache, Styrofoam, ing a huge stone of false humility away. life didn’t seem so unjust. I scribbled anything that doesn’t have to be fired Granted, both phenomena could eas­ these words on a napkin: “Koons, War­ and lugged around—but we always go ily create havoc on unstable ground. hol or even George Ohr scoff(ed) at back to clay.” Could our ground be unstable? Is that tradition but indeed the very act of Angela Fina smiled and said, “If I fertilizer going to burn our roots? Or scoffing creates the stuff that helps to won the lottery, I’d still make pots.” the boulder bed reveal slugs? Only for feed us all—excitement.” Donna Magee answered by quoting the few and the weak, I contend. Clay Then I thought about how culti­ Matisse: “What I dream of is an act of has the longest and most diverse tradi­ vated soils can support abundant out­ purity and serenity, devoid of troub­ tion in the arts. Clay is the most abun­ pourings of exotic, shallow-rooted ling or disturbing subject matter.” dant material on earth. Clay comes in hybrids. But at season’s end, the best Is it possible to hold a philosophy in multiple moods. Clay is elastic and can parts of these curious plants are yanked a few words? Sometimes I think about stretch to the limits of our imagina­ from the earth and enshrined in a hot what my friends and students, as well as tion. And clay, as an architecture stu­ house/museum. The rest are plowed other ceramic artists, have said about dent once described it, is muscular under before the first frost, providing the inherent values they cherish: Rob­ earth. Earth that works. So let’s kick up nutrients for the next year’s crop. Curi­ ert Piepenburg, “passion”; Margaret our heels and dance on this strong ously, manmade hybrids, selected for Curly Clay, “provoking intensity”; Susan turf. We can stand some stomping.

18 CERAMICS MONTHLY

“Arch” approximately 7 feet in height, coil-built stoneware, post and lintel construction, 1971; now installed in New Harmony, Indiana.

22 CERAMICS MONTHLY Bruno La Verdiere, An Autobiography From Monastery to Studio

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of autobiographies by well-known University of Washington—but I knew next to nothing about clay potters and ceramic artists, selected and compiled for CM by Carl Paak of and glazes, had never used a potter’s wheel or fired a kiln. Nor did Albuquerque, New Mexico. we have any pottery equipment. However, there was a clay deposit in a swamp on the property; Abbot Raphael wanted me to use that It was 1959 and I was 22 when Abbot Raphael ordered me to setup to keep overhead down. I was also to save time by finding the shal­ shop as a production potter. He had already arranged commis­ lowest clay deposits with a post-hole digger. sions for me in stone, wood, forged metal, welded metal and After reading Bernard Leach’s instructions on processing stained glass. local clays, another brother and I drove out to the swamp with the Raphael Heider, abbot of St. Martin’s Abbey in Olympia, post-hole digger, shovels, war surplus stretchers, and two 50- Washington, presided over a community of about 90 monks (in­ gallon oak wine casks. It was a nightmare. Once we’d located the cluding me), a small college and high school with about 350 clay with the post-hole digger, we removed the topsoil from the students, and a 30-acre farm. There were also various mainte­ area, shoveled the clay onto a stretcher, carried the stretcher to nance shops and a machine shop, plus blacksmithing, candle- the truck, and dumped it into the wine casks. Back at the shop, we making, shoemaking, plating and silversmithing, cabinetmaking, added water to the casks and churned with 2x4s for days. We then and cement-block-forming operations. Most of these enterprises poured the slurry through a screen to get rid of roots and stones, lost money. The statuary and other commissioned artwork I pro­ then onto plaster bats to dry a bit. duced for churches in the area brought in some cash, but the I tried slip casting and press molding this clay, but failed abbot had a broader and less haphazard market in mind. Hence: because neither the raw material nor my candleholder designs “Abbeyware.” were appropriate for either process. So I decided to build a kick He planned to introduce the first item of Abbeyware at a wheel and learn wheel throwing. nationwide meeting of abbots the next year at St. Martin’s, so I From previous reading, I knew that a successful kick wheel was told to make 30 sets of four candleholders. I had about five needs a heavy flywheel to help it spin without losing speed while months to complete the job, but could not work at it full time be­ the potter pulls. In the monastery warehouse, I found what was cause of other duties. once a pulley in a sawmill. It was made of laminated wood, about I had received some training in ceramics—an introductory 1 ½ feet thick and 4 feet in diameter. It was very heavy, and indeed course in handbuilding one summer from Robert Sperry at the proved capable of powerful momentum—once it got going.

“Damascus ” stoneware, with white engobe and copper oxide wash, 44 inches in height, 1980; installed on the artist’s property in Hadley, New York. October 1989 23 Because of the flywheel’s size and weight, I had to build a I had been so isolated that I was in awe of someone who massive wood frame to support it. The finished kick wheel was an supposedly knew what he was doing. Henry soon realized that he imposing structure, with a seat about 5 feet above the ground. was in a position to make all the rules for shop procedure, so he The wheel’s oddest feature was a light-weight aluminum throw­ began by reorganizing the studio. The first to go were all my plas­ ing head that was actually flexible. It was another of the abbot’s ter bats for drying the clay slurry, which by now came not from a ideas, designed by him and made in the abbey’s machine shop. wine cask, but from a dough mixer I had found in the monastery Abbot Raphael took great interest in the projects he assigned warehouse. Henry informed me that I could use the clay straight me. After studying the 7-cubic-foot electric kiln he’d ordered, he from the mixer if I added enough fireclay to the slurry. With the declared that he would design a large gas-fired kiln. By this time it end of the plaster drying bats thus came the end of the clay recipe was 1961, and little information had been published on kiln I had so conscientiously developed. It had become obvious that a building, so the abbot and I turned to Robert Sperry for advice. A bucketful, more or less, of some ingredients didn’t appreciably month after getting the measurements from the kiln Sperry had affect the results. built for his own studio, Abbot Raphael’s drawings were ready for Next to go were my stacks of bisqued Abbeyware. In order to interpretation by the bricklayer. have enough for a glaze firing in the gas kiln, I had accumulated a The resulting kiln was beautiful. It looked like a Romanesque large quantity of bisque from repeated firings of the electric kiln. chapel. It had two walls of brick, mortared Henry offered to decorate some of these into place. The outside was ordinary house pots. Curious to see what he was up to, I brick; the inside was firebrick. Between them agreed. I had never “decorated” a pot; glazes was a 4-inch space filled with asbestos pow­ were simply dipped or poured. From the der. The dimensions (70 cubic feet) and glaze chemical bins he picked out a variety firing principles were Sperry’s, the design of oxides, mixed a little water with each, and was Abbot Raphael’s, and the industrial started painting on the pots. I was horrified. burners with a 24-inch, high-pressure blower His aesthetic was strange to me, and I didn’t were recommended by the gas company. think I liked it. My precious little fiefdom I had never fired a gas kiln before. For was being invaded and my artistic judgment the first load, I put in an assortment of test put to the test. Here were my careful, safe, pieces and began firing, intending to stop at pseudo-Scandinavian pieces, with Henry’s Cone 6. The temperature stopped climbing easy, playful paintings on them. Seeing my at Cone 1, and no matter what adjustment tense, self-conscious attempts to put some or combination of adjustments in atmo­ loose marks on tight work, Henry suggested sphere and draft was attempted, it just sat that I go off by myself and experiment with a there. I turned it off, very disheartened, sure brush and oxides on newspaper, so that I that the entire endeavor was a failure. Its could get used to the idea. repair took less than five minutes: The man We then dumped all my glazes into a from the gas company drilled the gas orifices large trash can, because Henry said I’d need a bit larger, explaining that the 2-foot blower a lot of what he called “scrap glaze” for the provided plenty of air, so the burners just insides of vases and the like. Still planning needed more gas. The second firing went to produce those large storage jars, he black­ well, and Abbeyware was back in business. ened its muddy color by pouring quantities Like most beginning potters, I was ob­ of iron and cobalt into the mixture. The sessed with the various processes of clay. resulting glaze was dark, but not storage-jug With all the endless possibilities fascinating black, so it stayed scrap glaze. me, I wanted to try everything and learn ev­ Then Henry wanted to develop a white erything. At least 60 test tiles were included engobe, because he found painting on a “Lake Shore Guardian ” 66 inches high, with each firing. dark clay body not wholly satisfactory. He solid stoneware with manganese/iron/ My entire production to date, whether took a big bucket of my kiln wash, added a cobalt stain, on steel base, 1989. ceramics, stained glass, wood carving or steel, scoop or two of colemanite and feldspar was for church use. I studied magazines on and a bit of whiting (Henry’s favorite ingre­ liturgical art, which at the time was heavily dient), andvoila—white engobe. influenced by contemporary European design. I, too, was Soon we had enough glazed work for a firing. But Henry influenced by European (especially Scandinavian) ceramics seen refused to fire the kiln. All he’d ever used were venturi burners in books. And so my field of aesthetic reference was narrow, and that function on the same principle as those in a cookstove, so he my forms were tight and conservative. was uneasy with my kiln’s closed-up burners and enormous blower. Then Abbot Raphael learned of a young ceramic artist named He did demonstrate how to control the atmosphere with the Henry Takemoto through a friend who had studied with him stack’s damper. It turned out Henry had other plans for the kiln. during a summer workshop in Montana. The abbot appeared in He wanted to move it. When told that was out of the question, he my studio one day with a copy ofCraft Horizons magazine open to began to tinker with it. Eventually, we blew the arch out during a a photo of Henry standing next to three huge, exuberant ceramic firing. But this seemed only to encourage Henry. objects, completely opposite to everything the abbot had ever en­ The first kiln opening was as much a shock to me as the first couraged in me, and said: “Wouldn’t it be nice if this famous brushstroke Henry had put on one of my pots. I’d never seen so young man could come and visit?” many failures before. I thought, “What’s the abbot going to say?” The monastery was fully as exotic a concept to Henry as his But Henry seemed excited, and wanted photographs. We hauled work was to me. He dreamed of making large, black storage jugs everything outside and put it in a cart. Henry held up a large sheet for the monks. He thought they’d be needed for water from the of cardboard as backdrop while urging me to take pictures. Later, well and grain from the fields. He also dreamed of basking in the he helped me pick out the better pieces, which I kept. sound of Gregorian chants in chapel. Alas for Henry, we had up- Right after the kiln opening, Henry suggested the “three-for” to-date plumbing; the closest thing to grain was the sugar beet sale: buy one; get three. Within a week, we had depleted the crop Brother Willy raised for what was left of the pig farm; and stockpile of pre-Henry Abbeyware. This sale brought in the most most of our Gregorian chants were on records in the library. So money the pottery shop had ever generated at one time, and let Henry borrowed the records and spent as much time as he could the outside, nonmonastic world know we were there. taping them in his room at the guest house. But he never gave up Just before the sale, the abbot had come down to the studio. I on the black storage jugs. was still in a state of shock from the firing, but wanted to project

24 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Lau Remembered” coil-built stoneware, with white engobe and copper wash, fired to Cone 6 in reduction, 1979.

total confidence in what we were doing. The abbot had a funny My output of claywork was, nonetheless, tremendous, though smile as he looked things over. After that, he didn’t show up very somewhat erratic as I struggled to find direction. Many of the first often. He didn’t even offer a single suggestion—highly unusual pieces began from ideas Henry and I had discussed. I had, for behavior for him. I know now this was his way of giving me his instance, built a vaguely gourdlike 5-foot-tall container that Henry support during a time of change. said would look great with a handle, so together we made an I had been working on some large coiled pieces when Henry elaborate 3-foot handle and attached it. I was very pleased with arrived. I would roll coils on a tabletop, then as they were added I the result and made a series of tall jugs on which the huge handles would use a template to avoid deviations from the intended form. were structural elements. Henry showed me a faster method of making coils, by rolling A couple of these “FeastJugs” led to my first gallery representa­ them between the hands, and convinced me to abandon my tion. I entered them in the 1965 annual Northwest Craftsmen’s templates. I found that I could do more than just construct with Exhibition at the University of Washington, where they won coils; I could model with them. The very clumsiness that I first felt awards. Photos of the two appearing in Craft Horizons a few with the new method worked in my favor. No longer so con­ months later caught the eye of George Beylerian, a shop owner in cerned with showing off my craftsmanship, I could react as an New York. He wrote to me, we corresponded for a while, and an artist to the piece as it grew. invitation was extended to show my work. I had never had a show Henry would say “surprise yourself,” and I did. Modeling with before. I sent him almost everything I had. There was so much coils brought life and spontaneity to the work. Instead of fighting that he had to unpack the crates on the sidewalk, where he sold the clay, as I had before, I could use it. several pieces on the spot. And so while Henry was throwing large jugs on the potter’s Thanks to Henry, I was working with one clay body, one firing wheel, I coiled pots like a mad man, and established a new sense temperature and two glazes. Surfaces of the coil-built forms were of scale. With coiling, it’s so fast and easy to build a piece that the scraped to refine shape, then brushed with white engobe. I drew only limit to size is the kiln. Since the kiln was 5 feet tall, so were over the engobe with oxides mixed with water, then painted or my pieces. We couldn’t waste an inch of space, could we? poured a thin coat of whitish clear glaze overall and fired to Cone Just when I was beginning to hit my stride, Henry returned to 6. Limiting my methods this way freed me to explore shape, California because of a job offer. This apprenticeship had lasted volume, surfaces and color. just three months. By 1964 I was chafing with restlessness, excited about my new I ended up with enough ideas for a long time, even if it would work and eager to see more of what other artists were doing. have been possible to devote full time to clay. But there were Abbot Raphael had been adamant that I stay put, but when he re­ other demands on my time, including regular duties as a monk tired I convinced his successor that I should learn anatomy for the and commissioned church artwork in other media. sake of my numerous church statuary jobs, and that the place to

October 1989 25 “Epicenter E” approximately 28 inches in height, “Temple Gate,”42V2 inches in height, solid clay, solid stoneware, Cone 6 reduction fired, 1976. permanently assembled with steel pins, 1988.

learn anatomy was at the Art Students League in New York City. parallel lines surrounded by a heavy blue ground. I tried a brown When I got there in 1965,1 worked very hard, learning to draw ground on one, and hated it, so I applied gold leaf over the and model the figure. What very little daywork I did was at offending area, which was most of the piece. The effect was Greenwich House Pottery, where I taught a class in wheel throw­ stunning, and I liked the idea of having a surface that wasn’t fired. ing, and later in handbuilding. The job also gave me a chance to So I made more. My pieces in the “Objects U.S.A.” exhibition of get to know some East Coast clay artists: Jan Jones, Hui Ka Kwong, 1969 were from this series. Bill Lau, Hideo Okino, Bob Stull, Jim Crumrine and Toshiko I was interested in developing a surface especially for gold leaf, Takaezu. and found that the same technique for applying leaf to picture Toshiko introduced me to Bill Brown, director of the Penland frames, over gesso, works fine with fired clay. I was actually using School of Crafts in North Carolina, and Bill invited me to teach a acrylic modeling paste, similar to gesso, applying it in thin layers workshop at the school’s ceramic facility on my way back to Wash­ and sanding it. Sanded with care, the paste takes on a silky translu­ ington State in 1967. cent surface that I used instead of a glaze on some forms, al­ It was exciting to be at Penland. The atmosphere there was though at first it was primarily as a support for leaf. intense. It was also a very rare opportunity for me to work full time I made a series of intricate, closely interlocked, three-dimen­ in clay, even if it was only for a few weeks. During that summer at sional puzzle pieces that owed a lot to the tightly fitting stone walls Penland, I started making clay horns. One of my students was in Peru. These pieces were low table or floor works; the sides were clowning around with a tapered clay form destined to be a lamp- rough and unglazed; the tops were smooth and rounded and base, blowing it like a horn. I was intrigued with the idea, and gold or silver leafed. Slides of my studio, taken in the late after­ started work on a large coil-built horn. Because I was supposed to noon in semidarkness during this phase, show a soft glow of submit something to a show of hanging objects at the Lee Nord- precious metals everywhere. I was also making what I called ness Gallery, I put two thick loops on the top so that it could be “Room Dividing Bottles,” which were rectangular forms about 5½ suspended with rope. feet tall and 3½ feet wide, but only about 1 foot thick. They, too, I’ve since made hundreds of hanging horns. Some years, my were silver or gold leafed and, like the puzzle pieces, each had a horns are as close as I get to making functional pottery. I am small hole at the top, evidence of my conscience as a potter, be­ mainly interested in exploring what I can do with the tubular cause they were “containers.” form, but these horns do function. In fact, two composers, Char­ In 1969, I left the monastery and moved to the southern lie Morrow and Wendy Chambers, have used my horns in per­ Adirondacks in upstate New York, where I still live. I had hopes of formances of their work. making a living from my pottery, so I immediately set up a studio The year I returned to the monastery, the new abbot granted in the basement. I went to fairs and acquired a few other outlets. me permission to attend the World Crafts Council conference in Between the pottery and giving occasional workshops, I got Lima, Peru. There, I was much affected by Inca jewelry and the through this transitional period. ruins at Machu Picchu. The guide at Machu Picchu said that some On moving to the Adirondacks, I built a propane kiln, about of the walls there had once been covered with pounded gold. 50 cubic feet, and about a year later built a larger, oil-fired kiln of Even without the gold, the walls are a wonder, built up of huge about 150-cubic-foot capacity. I had some large, secondhand, oil stone blocks that sit tight against each other without mortar. burners, and a huge blower that required a 220-volt line and Gold found its way into my work soon after I got back. The made a mind-numbing roar reminiscent of my first kiln at the drawings on many of the pieces at that time were undulating monastery. The oil kiln had to be shoveled out of deep snow for its

26 CERAMICS MONTHLY first firing. In it was a large piece, a series of seven unglazed, white Bill Brown invited me back to Penland in 1974 to participate in monuments averaging about 5 feet tall which I called the “Grave­ a new project they were developing—a series of craft books. Each yard,” that I had made for a show in Albany. It was an important volume, devoted to a single craft, would focus on about ten artists, change for me. each of whom would demonstrate the making of a piece from The summer before making the “Graveyard,” I produced a start to finish. The pottery book was to come first. series of coil-built shapes derived from the “Room Dividing My part in the book was in pursuit of an idea I had been Bottles.” But unlike the bottles, these were no longer containers. considering for some time. In 1966 I had seen a large ceramic I had closed off the tops, and omitted bottoms—topless, bottom­ arch by Miro at the Guggenheim Museum. I was also aware of an less bottles. I called them monuments. They were hollow, flat arch by Brancusi, one of my heroes. And so I worked for weeks on forms with small points where the holes would have been, and designs for an arch, doing drawing after drawing. I came up with they had delicate drawings that could be seen only up close. The what I felt was a fluid design that was true to the medium of clay. It colorful drawings that covered all my earlier pieces masked my was a post and lintel structure with socketlike joints where the uncertainty with the forms themselves, but these new shapes weight of the lintel met the posts. The assembled piece reached could hold their own without drawings. slightly over 7 feet tall. I exhibited the “Arch” a few times after The “Graveyard” was my response to the small graveyards I completing it, but it has since stood in wooded areas, first on my kept finding when I moved east. These are groups of perhaps property, and now in New Harmony, Indiana. The “Arch” re­ only half a dozen stones often located in the forest. Like subse­ mains a hidden force behind everything I do. quent sources for my work, such as the prehistoric monuments of In 1976, faced with a February 1977 solo show at the Everson Europe, the graveyards appeal to a need for order, ritual, or Museum in Syracuse, I brought one unresolved block of work to a ceremony. There are patterns, relationships and beliefs expressed conclusion, and made a major technical change that also has in the arrangement of the stones. You can respond to them affected most of my subsequent output. Unresolved were a half without knowing why or how. dozen of the hanging urns Fd made at Penn State four years I spent almost a year on the road in 1972, including semester earlier. They were surfaced with white engobe, but for some sabbatical replacement jobs at Penn State and Scripps. While at reason they looked washed out. The texture and color were just Penn State, I began to work with a form based on something I’d wrong. Within a day of the firing I began to apply acrylic modeling seen in a book on glassblowing. It was an Egyptian “tear vial,” a paste gesso to one of the urns as I had earlier with the puzzle tiny tubelike container used for collecting mourners’ tears. In pieces. I don’t think I was planning to gold leaf the urns, just to the front of the kiln at Penn State there was a 9-inch-deep by 5- leave them plain, with a smooth, soft, translucent white surface, foot-high space that no one ever used. Long slender objects that but had no clear sense of how to present them. could be placed on end could be fired there in profusion. The For the Everson show, I decided to exhibit them in handsome first ones I made were floor pieces. Later ones had a white en­ walnut boxes with grand piano type surfaces. I ended up with gobe surface, sometimes with very delicate line drawings. I sus­ something quite different, thanks to Jake Hawkins, who did the pended them by steel wires so that the closed ends of the urns woodwork. His plain oak boxes opened not like violin cases, but were 4 inches from the floor. In the right light, the steel wires dis­ from the small end. I could present the pieces alongside each appeared and the urns looked like eerie, erotic bombs. other, with the lids opening out at the same angle, off to the side.

“Cat Temple ” 14 inches in height, reduction-fired stoneware, assembled with steel pins, on steel base, 1988.

October 1989 27 The texture of the oak set off the smoothness of the gesso (which whole room after all. We put most of the “Epicenters” on the tiers by now was being completed by my wife Barbara Hancock). Seen at various heights, and arranged the “Sacred Vessels” on the floor. together, the “Sacred Vessels” became one piece. The effect was extraordinary. Walking into the room, one had the The other sculpture I made for that show came about in part immediate feeling of entering a tomb, an archaeological find, the because of a desire for larger work. The form I had in mind at first scene of some ancient ritual, a museum for an atomic holocaust. was one I had worked with before, a disk-shaped monument, but By 1981, Barbara and I had finished a studio (after five years of twice as large as earlier pieces. My sculpture in general was be­ working on it). The old, dark, dank workspace became storage. I coming flatter, almost two-dimensional. Because they were coil now had a grand space with wonderful light, and an open loft for built, their hollow cores gave them both a hint of breath and a drawing and printmaking. Paradise. It took seven more years to tension with their basic flatness. I had planned to construct the afford to build the large propane kilns I now needed, during large disk from two coil-built, semicircular halves, but couldn’t which time I worked only sporadically in clay. The overwhelming come up with a good way of joining them. The concept had gone volume of my work then, as now, was on paper. I also did a lot of beyond the process: if the disk was to be made out of clay, it woodcarving, and in the summer of 1986 did an entire show of couldn’t be coil built. cast-iron pieces that picked up where “Arch” had left off some ten So I began to work solid, and the new forms not only looked years earlier. flat, they were flat. This series of round and rectangular shapes What I needed to really get going in clay again was another were called “Epicenters,” the largest of which was 8 feet wide, 3 show, another deadline. Then it happened—two solo shows in feet high and 1 foot thick. They had begun three or four years 1988. That winter, Barbara came home with the brochure of a before as female nudes. The nudes became scarabs, and the scar­ show she’d seen at the Metropolitan Museum in New York: tiny abs became more and more abstract until becoming simple, di­ pre-Columbian funerary temples from Mexico. The pieces at the vided forms. The term “epicenter” refers to ground zero in an Met were uncannily close to concepts I had been working with. I atomic blast. These split or severed monuments were my attempt was elated with the sense of support from a historic presence. Be­ to make a statement about a horrible weapon. yond the striking resemblance, the way the pre-Columbian pieces The gallery at the Everson where I was to show had massive were modeled solved some subtle visual problems in my work. tiers for presenting the museum’s ceramic collection. I had They also reinforced a theme I was pursuing, and gave some mo­ planned to remove them in order to have all my pieces free-stand- mentum to create a body of work for the two shows. ing on the floor, but come installation day the tiers proved to be Current work comes from the memory of geological forms, built-in—part of the room—reminiscent of the Guggenheim the­ cone shapes growing out of the earth, honeycombed with caves ory of museum design whereby work can be shown one way, where monks lived and painted icons. I saw this in a photo about period; and I didn’t like that. While trying to figure out how to 20 years ago and I’m sure memory has distorted it, but what place my sculpture on what little floor space was available, Gus counts is how it made me feel. The cones are a further evolution Alex, crew foreman at the museum, quietly put a few of the “Epi­ of temples. Each new project seems to be caused by the debris of centers” up on the tiers. Since Gus didn’t seem at all concerned the last one. At times the work seems tedious, but after a week, a about putting a 500-hundred pound sculpture on the top tier, I month, a year, I come up with another form that seems to have a decided to humor him, and see what could be done by using the kind of rightness that is a little more right than the last one. A

“Graveyard ” to 68 inches in height, coil-built stoneware, by Bruno La Verdi ere, 1972; currently in the collection of the Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art.

28 CERAMICS MONTHLY Jiggering bowls in Bat Trang is a two-man operation—one to form the clay, the other to power the belt-driven system. Note the truck wheel rim used as a flywheel.

A Vietnamese Pottery Village by Virginia Gift

To VISIT the pottery village of Bat Trang of the four communes, about half the and the U.S.S.R. Currently, the Viet­ is to step into another world. Situated families in the village work as free en­ namese are trying to expand export on the left bank of the Red River, 15 terprise units. They produce pottery sales by exhibiting at international kilometers from Vietnam’s capital of on speculation or negotiate individual trade fairs. Hanoi—a 45 minute drive over bat­ contracts with the government. The Bat Trang pottery has long been an tered roads—Bat Trang has been the rest of the villagers work for one of the export commodity. As early as the 15th country’s center for ceramics since the four cooperatives, which average century, whenever a tribute to China’s 14th century. 120-150 employees. emperor had to be sent from Vietnam, The village is located about half a Cooperative employees receive a the village was required to supply 70 mile off the main road; there are no monthly salary and a share of any sets of porcelain. Bat Trang’s ware was cars, trucks, motorcycles or motorbikes profits. Many also earn extra money byalso exported to Japan and, according to intrude on its peaceful atmosphere. engaging in free enterprise, after meet­ to records, 15th-century Japanese arti^ Surrounded by palm trees and lush ing their obligations to the commune. sans often reproduced the “Kotchi” vegetation, it rises like an oasis in the The cooperatives work on contracts forms and decorative styles. (Kotchi middle of green paddy fields. with a federal agency called the Fine was the Japanese translation for the Currently, with a population of Arts Cooperative. The majority of pro­ ancient name of Vietnam, Giao-chi.) about 4000, there are roughly 1000 duction is for export, which is handled The Japanese were particularly fond of households working on pottery pro­ by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, for Bat Trang’s blue-and-white faience, duction in Bat Trang. According to Le shipping to such countries as West which was usually decorated with floral Thu Cam, the elected director of one Germany, France, Bulgaria, Hungary motifs, traditional landscapes or de- October 1989 29 above Shards top the wall surrounding a courtyard where jiggered bowls are set out to dry (upper right). Released from the plaster molds, they are inverted (foreground), then dried upright before raw glazing.

far left Kilns are fired with patties made of coal dust and mud. Formed by hand, they are slapped onto any avail­ able vertical space to dry before use.

left While the majority of ware is jiggered or slip cast (the wheel is not considered efficient enough for export production), all decoration is still done by hand—each decorator specializes in part of the overall design.

30 CERAMICS MONTHLY far left Traditional decoration on greenware incorporates floral and landscape motifs.

left Boards full of ware at various stages of production are stored on bamboo racks under roof.

below Bricks are made individually from a mixture of shard grog and clay, then dried, glazed and fired. “It is said that, in ancient times, a lover who was anxious to win the hand of a beautiful girl would promise to build her a house of Bat Trang bricks

pictions of mythical/legendary heroes. includes stoneware teapots, teacups men who represent “happiness, pros­ In addition to functional and deco­ and rice bowls. Many of their vases are perity and longevity.” rative ware, Bat Trang produced enam­ heavily decorated in various colors with Very few of Bat Trang’s potters still eled bricks and tiles, both of which relief designs of flowers or undulating use the wheel; they feel it is not efficient were used in building the finest houses dragons. The potters also produce enough for export production. The throughout Vietnam. It is said that, in figures, 6 to 12 inches high, represent­ majority of work is jiggered or slip cast, ancient times, a lover who was anxious ing a variety of Buddhas and national but all the decoration is done by hand. to win the hand of a beautiful girl historical figures. Among the most typi­ Bat Trang’s source of clay is about would promise to build her a house of cally Vietnamese of their works are a 100 kilometers away. Throughout the Bat Trang bricks. group of four female musicians in tra­ village there are open vats for working Today, the village’s functional ware ditional costumes, and a group of three slip, which is then transported by por-

October 1989 31 There are no trucks, forklifts or even wheeled ware carts in Bat Trang. Everything (fuel, clay, greenware stacked in saggars) is transported in baskets on shoulder poles. right Damp coal patties are slapped onto the chamber walls before the kiln is loaded with ware in saggars. A movable board/scaffold seated in doorway slots makes loading easy, even in a tall kiln.

OPPOSITE page: TOP After clamming the wicket (filling the temporary door’s cracks with plastic clay), the potter allows heat to build slowly. During firing, spent patties are raked from the firebox, as wood is dried on a shelf above a port unbricked for inspection. bottom left Slip-cast figures of female musicians in traditional costume. bottom middle Celadon-glazed, slip- cast horses seem to be a variation of the massive terra-cotta figures of India (see “The Aiyanar Horse ” by Ron duBois in the March 1982 Ceramics Monthly). bottom right Jiggered plates are decorated with images of mythical or legendary heroes.

ters carrying two large cans in baskets gars. The act of preparing the fuel pat­ or private household, we were treated at the ends of a shoulder pole. Fuel, ties is reminiscent of the making of to the Vietnamese bitter green tea and, solid clay, greenware and finished tortillas; the women sit in the alleyways in spite of the acute poverty, always pieces are also moved from place to shaping the coal dust and mud, then offered something to eat. At each stop, place in the same labor-intensive man­ slap them on the walls to dry. I was also given several pieces of pot­ ner; and finished pieces are hauled A visit to Bat Trang is a disconcert­ tery, so that by the time I left the village half a mile to the road, for pickup by ing experience for an American, given I had a huge carton of lovely works, motorcycles or trucks. past and current differences between much too heavy to carry. I felt very The work is fired in saggars to ap­ our two governments. Yet there was fortunate to have made the visit. proximately 2250°F, using small patties nothing but smiles when I identified (about 5 inches in diameter) of ground my nationality; no reticence or traces The author A pottery teacher at the Ameri­ coal mixed with mud. Damp patties of hostility. When I told them I was also can School of Paris for 20 years, Virginia are slapped onto the walls of the kilns, a potter, the reception was almost em­ Gift recently took a leave of absence to volun­ and others are stacked around the sag­ barrassing. As we visited each commune teer as an English teacher in Hanoi.

32 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 33 Betsy Brandt

FUSION of the ordinary with the classic is basic to the stores, flea markets and garage sales, and often employs “animated hybrid” polychrome vessels by resident artist interesting finds in her work, “either impressing them into Betsy Brandt featured in a recent solo exhibition at the the surface or applying them in mosaic fashion.” Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Works originate with handbuilt versions of historic pots Aware of clay’s association to everyday life, that “it has that she has come in contact with through books or muse­ been used to make both the most rudimentary utilitarian ums. She then exaggerates the form, applying various objects as well as the most ostentatious and impractical surface treatments, particularly bright glazes, “in a celebra­ decorative items,” Brandt is a frequent visitor at thrift tion of the necessity of joy and humor in everyday life.” ▲ PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE CLAY STUDIO

“Crayola Urn” 17V2 inches in height, coil built, studded with impressions of common found objects, brushed with polychrome glazes. right “Blue Kraft,” IIV2 inches in height, impressed with macaroni on the outside and the element from an electric typewriter on the inner rim, by Betsy Brandt, Chicago.

34 CERAMICS MONTHLY Jim Connell in his Winthrop College studio.

Celebrations of an Institutional Potter by Jim Connell

MANY POTTERS owe their beginnings years and three years between schools. then to college and/or a professional to the university system. I started at Through grade school, high school, job. Still later in life we have the old Loyola University in Chicago and con­ the Air Force, and three degrees earned folks home to look forward to, and tinued my studies at the Kansas City from three different schools, I haven’t perhaps that big institution in the sky. Art Institute and the University of Illi­ had much time in the real world. But Does this mean we’re all regimented, nois in Champaign/Urbana. I enjoyed then isn’t the real world just a set of in­ organized and structured? Does it tend each year, and feel I learned a tremen­ stitutions we all attach ourselves to for to desensitize us and make us auto­ dous amount about clay. But being a a good portion of our lives? Most of us mated clones thoroughly trained to product of the system, it’s only natural have been raised in institutions. We take on the rigors of red tape, seniority that I have a tendency to support it. Ul­ start at an early age in kindergarten and political manipulation? Is it pos­ timately, I have to face the fact that I where we learn all the basics for coping sible to actually become and stay an am an institutional potter. Taught by with all the future institutions we will artist in this type of environment? Each institutional teachers, firing pots in in­ encounter. To paraphrase Unitarian of us is affected differently. stitutional kilns, mixing clay in institu­ minister/author Robert Fulghum, we It’s hardly a romantic notion to state tional mixers, and spreading piles of learn to share, play fair, clean up our your beginnings were in an institution. institutional cleaning compound on messes, flush, stick together, watch traf­ Some clay artists love the mystique and institutional floors. I can’t profess to fic, and not to hit others. As we con­ romance of clay, and dream that they be a Japanese potter raised in the mas­ tinue our education in grade and high are reincarnated, 12th-century, Song- ter/apprentice tradition. I’m just an school, we add on to these basics and dynasty potters (or whatever). Because average, middle-class, midwesterner hopefully develop into well-rounded North Americans have a limited ce­ who learned ceramics in school. individuals. Some of us escape from in­ ramic tradition to fall back on for inspi­ I’ve been part of one institution or stitutionalization after high school; oth­ ration, we can indulge in these fanta­ another all my life, save for my earliest ers, like myself, go into the military, sies. We absorb history from across the

October 1989 35 right Oval bottle, 8 inches in height, thickly thrown and carved porcelain, raku fired, by Jim Connell, Rock Hill, South Carolina.

world, then pick and choose the parts my teachers and having the clay de­ By the end of July ’87, we had packed we like. Learning about historical partment to myself. But I knew this our accumulated wealth into the larg­ precedents was a major turning point could never happen unless I acquired est rental truck we could find. My wife, in my clay career. I fell in love with an M.F.A. Little did I realize how much dog, cat, two studios, assorted house­ Korean, Chinese and Irani pottery, and I would learn along the way. hold goods and I left the black soil of used them to better understand form Unfortunately, on the road to this Illinois and headed down the road to and surface treatment. These pots were master’s degree, jobs started drying up. the red clay of the central Piedmont. very good influences. However, we must Hundreds of capable M.F.A. students While the Midwest is hot in August, the ultimately develop personal styles. were graduated from schools across South is even hotter. We found our­ Someone once said style can’t be the nation. Competition for each open­ selves running the air conditioner 24 put on like a piece of clothing; it must ing became increasingly fierce. No hours a day; even our dog wouldn’t develop or grow outward from your longer was it just necessary to have the ride in the back of the pick-up truck soul like the branches of a tree. The degree. Resumes had to be worked on. (usually her favorite place). The heat tree comes from a seed, and must be Slides had to be not only good, but seemed to drain all the energy from planted and nurtured. I like to think great. Shows had to be entered and, our bodies as we moved in and settled the schools I attended were my nurser­ hopefully, awards won. into our new home, city, school, new ies. Without them, I doubt I could be After all this, the Catch-22 had to be everything. where I am now. Being raised in an faced: How to get a teaching position Our house is a block away from the institution does not have to mean los­ without having any teaching experi­ campus. We’re surrounded by large ing your creativity; rather, it can open ence beyond an assistantship in gradu­ live oaks and pecan trees. The college doors to so many things. I have taken ate school. Schools aren’t generally has a hundred-year tradition as a advantage of the system and tried to impressed when you tell them you’ve women’s teaching school (turned co­ use it to serve my needs. been teaching at the local potters’ club ed in the early seventies), and the art Institutions can’t be seen as a com­ and park district. department has a good reputation in plete escape from reality because And, finally, the last ingredient, and the state. I couldn’t have found a bet­ financial problems are present whether perhaps the most important element ter job to start my career. you’re paying for tuition or studio over­ needed to get a job: Knowing the right Winthrop’s art and design depart­ head. There is a freedom in schools people. The “Old Boy Network” is alive ment has over 350 students and a fac­ you don’t find in your own studios, and kicking in our business, and for ulty of 16 full-time and 25 part-time though—freedom to experiment and those who have the right people on instructors. When I arrived, it was in change; and freedom from commis­ their side, it can work. For those who the process of merging with the music, sions and orders. I have always been don’t, well, it’s just one more obstacle theater and dance departments to form able to earn money selling pots, but I to overcome. a new School of Visual and Perform­ have never relied on them exclusively. Still, I made finding a job (despite ing Arts. Our old building (a 1909 Car­ I have always had part-timejobs to meet the odds) a number one priority. I sent negie Library) was Undergoing a $3+ my financial needs. This has allowed out some 40 applications and traveled million renovation and addition, which me to continue experimenting and not to the College Art Association (CAA) tripled the size of the ceramics depart­ get tied down with what other people convention, dressed in new pants, ment, adding needed space and equip­ want. I have consistently put 50 or 60+ sports jacket and shoes, seeking inter­ ment. hours a week into my studio—because views and a chance to sell my talents. I The clay studio I inherited was a of the love of the material, not the love wrote, rewrote and polished my re­ mess, on the small side and lacking a of money. sume. I wrote letters gloriously sum­ few vital pieces of equipment. It had So I found myself three years re­ ming up my past, present and future eight wheels, a small slab roller, a nice moved from graduate school, working goals, and spent hours taking slides pug mill, three electric kilns, an ex­ out of a cold, damp basement studio, and black-and-white glossies. I tried to truder, a small glaze room, some bats, and liking it. I’d proven (to myself) do everything as professionally as pos­ tables and chairs, some shelves, and a that I could make pots anywhere if my sible, and spent thousands of dollars in portable, hobby-style, raku kiln. Before desire is deep enough. A wheel, some the process. For all this, I was able to hiring me, the college had purchased shelf space, an electric kiln, and the line up eight CAA interviews, five “final a large, factory-made gas kiln for kindness of Don Frith to let me use the three” interviews, some 39 solid rejec­ $12,000. It was supposed to have been University of Illinois’s gas kiln, were all tions and one job—a real live college hooked up by the time I arrived, but an I needed. But still, there was a longing tenure-track teaching position. administrative decision had kept it in to return to the institution. Days as a After the initial shock of actually storage awaiting the completion of the student were well behind me. The al­ finding ajob wore off, I settled down to renovation. Reduction would have to ternative, of course, was to teach. plan the move to Rock Hill, South Caro­ wait. I had always wanted to teach ceram­ lina. I was hired to fill the ceramics Most of August was spent rearrang­ ics on a university or college level. Ever position, with side duties teaching 3-D ing the room and reclaiming the seem­ since starting to make pots, I have had Design and overseeing the woodshop ingly endless supply of dried clay. There an Oedipus-like dream of getting rid of at Winthrop College. must have been 4 tons of assorted,

36 CERAMICS MONTHLY PHOTO: BILLMORETZ

dried-out, forgotten, left-behind bricks ing faculty meetings, departmental Another year has since flown by, of clay—all of unknown quality, firing meetings, committee meetings and blending me back into the institutional temperature, texture and color. I spent faculty parties, plus making an occa­ life very nicely and happily. I remem­ weeks sorting, hammering, slaking, sional recruitment trip. There seemed ber one of the interviewers at the CAA drying, pugging, testing, bagging, la­ little time to actually teach and even convention asking me what my goals beling and storing it. Slowly, the room less time to get my own work done. I were. I doubtless made a mistake by came together and by the end of the had realized that possibility and read­ telling him bluntly that my goal was to month I was ready to welcome return­ ied myself for it. I knew time would be have hisjob! It wasn’t very tactful, but it ing students and start taking on institu­ needed to reinstitutionalize myself To­ was an honest answer. I had spent nine tional responsibilities. ward the end of the fall semester I did years doing all the right things to get a The fall semester required prepar­ find time to relax and get some pots position teaching college. Few other ing lessons, syllabi, assignments, slides thrown, and the second semester went things mattered. Now, I’m living that and demonstrations, as well as attend­ more smoothly. goal and it feels great. A October 1989 37 Gauguin’s Ceramics

“The A rt of Paul G auguin ” was the tour at the Galeries Nationales du has come into being.” The heart of the first comprehensive retrospective Grand Palais in Paris. legend concerns a middle-aged stock­ exhibition of works by this postim- Though Gauguin is now recognized broker and amateur painter who in pressionist French artist, “taking us as “the greatest colorist of the late 19 th 1890 capriciously renounced his family from his early years in France through century,” his image as a free-spirited and worldly possessions to flee Paris sojourns in Brittany and Martinique, libertine has been stressed in films, for Tahiti, where for the rest of his life his work side by side with Van Gogh in novels and biographies to such an ex­ he “lived and loved and painted and Arles, and then to Tahiti,” according to tent that until the present his life had died like a savage.” J. Carter Brown, director of the Na­ often attracted more attention than It was in June of 1886 that Gauguin tional Gallery of Art in Washington, his art. Seldom one to let the truth get was introduced by the engraver Felix D.C. The majority of the works shown in the way of a good story, Gauguin Bracquemond to the ceramist Ernest were selected from the paintings, sculp­ encouraged many of the tales sur­ Chaplet, who had apprenticed at Sevres ture, prints, drawings and ceramics rounding the eccentricities for which but by then was concentrating on Gauguin chose or created for major he is now remembered. wheel-thrown stoneware. Chaplet’s exhibitions during his lifetime. Having Some 50 years ago, Gauguin’s son Paris studio was quite near Gauguin’s opened at the National Gallery, the Emil, in the preface to his father’s book residence, and he soon took advantage retrospective was then shown at the Art IntimateJournals, wrote that “a fantastic of the proximity to begin working with Institute of Chicago and concluded its legend, distorted in many retellings, this “perfect medium for expressing

38 CERAMICS MONTHLY above “Les Miserables,” oil on canvas self- portrait, 1888.

left Front and back views of “Vase in the Form of a Woman’s Head: Madame Schuffenecker” 9 inches in height, glazed stoneware with gold highlights, 1889.

PRECEDING PAGEJar­ diniere (four views) decorated with motifs from “The Breton Shepherdess” and “The Toilette ” 105/s inches in height, stoneware with slip, partially glazed, signed “P. Gauguin,” 1886-87.

October 1989 39 “Pot in the Form of a Bust of a Young Girl: Portrait of Jeanne “Vase Decorated with Breton Scenes,” 11 Vs inches high, Schuffenecker” 7½ inches in height, unglazed stoneware, signed glazed stoneware with incising and gold highlights, “PGo” and dedicated “amon ami Schuff.,” 1887-88. signed “PGo,” stamped by Chaplet, 1886-87.

his love of raw materials and his decora­ rolled handles, decorated either with tive sense,” writes Musees de France [gloss] or matt finish, sometimes inlaid curator Claire Freches-Thory in the ex­ with gold highlights. The familiar motifs hibition’s catalog. of the Breton paintings reappear: At the end of 1886, Gauguin wrote to shepherds, shepherdesses, lambs, geese, Bracquemond: “If you are anxious to faces. The last pieces bear no resem­ see all the products of my folly..., they blance to utilitarian objects at all and are are ready—55 pieces which turned out in fact pure sculpture. well—you will certainly howl at these “Ever the dreamer, Gauguin counted monstrosities, but I’m convinced they on his ceramics to provide a livelihood will interest you.” when his paintings did not sell. However, “Gauguin’s passion for ceramics buyers were few, and his ceramics sold as quickly became a manifesto for an art badly as his pictures. Yet the proceeds of form, which in his eyes had deteriorated a ceramics sale by Theo van Gogh, 300 rapidly during the era of triumphant francs, enabled Gauguin to pay for his eclecticism,” notes Freches-Thory. “He trip to Arles, where he joined Vincent. saw the Sevres factory as the chief culprit: “For Gauguin, the art of pottery was ‘Sevres, in no uncertain terms, has killed inextricably linked with that of painting. ceramics,’ he wrote. The Brittany sketchbooks show nu­ top The garden and studio of the “Except for a few pieces thrown on merous motifs common to his paintings house Gauguin rented on rue Carcel; the wheel and then decorated, Gauguin’s as well as many design for ceramics.... a door opened onto the street where ceramics were modeled by hand, al­ The evolution of his ceramic oeuvre is potter Ernest Chaplet worked. lowing him to create ‘baroque’ forms: part of Gauguin’s general stylistic de­ above Stacking the kiln at pitchers, pots and vases with one, two or velopment toward an increasingly com­ Chaplet’s studio. three openings, adorned with multiple plex symbolism.”A

40 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Oviri ," meaning “wild99 or “savage” in Tahitian, 29V2 inches in height, partially glazed stoneware, 1894; identified by Gauguin as his best ceramic work.

far left “Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-Portrait," 7Vs inches high, stoneware, 1889. There are several theories about the meaning of the imagery. A few weeks before making the jug, Gauguin attended the guillotining of a convicted mur­ derer. After firing, Gauguin deemed it “very successful99 and included it as a vase for flowers in one of his most famous still lifes.

left Photograph of Gauguin9s hand, 1893-95.

October 1989 41 Clear Glazes/Celadons for Cone 6 and 10 by Harold J. McWhinnie

Editor’s note: Clear glazes are among the Clear Glaze Base most bodies. Somewhat opaque if thick. most useful starting points for those wish­ (Cone 10, oxidation or reduction) Add 1.5% red iron oxide and fire in ing to explore the development of their Whiting ...... 20% reduction for a blue-green celadon. own glazes, or broadening a current selec­ Custer Feldspar...... 40 tion of colors and surfaces. Additions of Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4)...... 25 A-3 Glaze coloring oxides, carbonates and commer­ (Cone 6, oxidation or reduction) cial stains to such recipes will yield a rain­ Flint...... 15 100% Borax...... 4.76% bow of colors, each influenced by the clear Whiting...... 9.52 base glaze’s particular compositional nu­ For celadon, add 1% red iron oxide, Nepheline Syenite...... 57.14 ances and quirks. (Any uncolored glaze and fire in reduction. Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 1.91 may be considered a “base glaze” on which other glazes may be built, if compounds— G-13 Glaze Flint...... 26.67 usually oxide or carbonate colorants—are (Cone 6, oxidation or reduction) 100.00% added to it to form other variations.) Borax...... 4.76% For a light blue-green celadon, add 1 % It is quite possible to collect clear reci­ Dolomite...... 9.52 red iron oxide, and fire this recipe in a pes for the cone range in which you are Talc...... 9.52 interested, then add to those base recipes reduction atmosphere. standard percentages of common color­ Nepheline Syenite...... 57.15 Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 19.05 A-3 Glaze ants (/4-1% cobalt carbonate, 1-5% man­ (Cone 10, oxidation or reduction) ganese dioxide, ½-5% copper carbonate, 100.00% Whiting ...... 10% 1-10% rutile, 1-5% tin oxide) in order to For white, add 5% Zircopax. quickly develop many new glazes. If alu­ K-200 Feldspar...... 60 mina is added to a clear glaze in 2% incre­ G-13 Glaze Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 2 ments to about 10% (either in the form of (Cone 10, oxidation or reduction) Flint...... 28 white clays or alumina hydroxide), it is pos­ Dolomite ...... 10% 100% sible to control an increase in the mattness Talc...... 10 A clear gloss that tends to bubble. With of the glaze’s surface. Custer Feldspar...... 60 A common result when firing a clear 1 % red iron oxide and fired in reduc­ glaze in reduction is celadon, that loosely Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 20 tion, it will yield a light blue celadon. defined color produced by small amounts 100% of iron. Though commonly considered to Kuan Chun Glaze With an addition of 5% Zircopax, re­ (Cone 6, reduction) be light green, classical examples range sults in a nice semigloss white. from light brown to blue green. Borax...... 4.76% Clear Porcelain Glaze Whiting...... 12.38 (Cone 6, oxidation or reduction) Wood Ash ...... 8.57 DEVELOPED with the aid of computer Borax...... 4.76% Nepheline Syenite...... 51.43 software, the following glaze recipes Whiting...... 19.05 Flint...... 22.86 are suitable for color variations with Nepheline Syenite...... 31.43 100.00% the addition of oxides and/or stains, Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 14.28 Add: Yellow Ocher ...... 2.50% or may serve as the bases for subse­ Flint...... 30.48 quent experimentation. A high-gloss, lighter-value celadon. 100.00% Kuan Chun Glaze Clear Glaze Base Yields a semimatt that crazes. (Cone 6, oxidation or reduction) (Cone 10, reduction) Borax...... 4.76% Clear Porcelain Glaze Whiting ...... 13.0% Whiting...... 19.05 (Cone 10, oxidation or reduction) Wood Ash ...... 9.0 Nepheline Syenite...... 38.09 Whiting...... 20% Buckingham Feldspar...... 54.0 Kentucky Ball Clay (OM 4).... 23.81 K-200 Feldspar...... 33 Flint...... 24.0 Flint...... 14.29 Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 15 100.0% 100.00% Flint...... 32 Add: Yellow Ocher ...... 2.5% For celadon, add 1% red iron oxide, 100% A nice blue-green celadon. For a darker and fire in reduction. A nice gloss glaze, slightly crazed on green, add 1% red iron oxide. ▲

42 CERAMICS MONTHLY Three Views on Dinnerware

A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio When developing these "Merry-Go- Point of Round" teapots, I began with four basic Departure shapes, three of which were derived from the first one. Previously, in Switzer­ by Patricia Glave land, I had used these four shapes for functional purposes; now I am focusing on their metamorphoses. Drawing is very important to me. Without the drawing (two dimensional),

Sculpture or dinnerware? After four years there is one step missing between the of technical and artistic basics at the thought (without dimension) and its School of Art and Design of Vevey, Swit­ realization (three dimensional). zerland, this was the main question I Once the design is sketched, the asked myself in 1984. That year, when pieces are primarily thrown. Even setting up my ceramics studio in Lau­ handles are thrown hollow. The propor­ sanne, Switzerland, I decided to forego tion or relationship between handle and sculpture as such, even though very body is considered carefully, in order interested in it. The functional aspect of that each teapot seem as light as pos­ claywork seemed a more compelling sible. In this regard, scale is extremely point of departure. significant to the feeling of the work. To create objects which are attrac­ After achieving a satisfactory line, I tive, humorous and cheerful, or simply then add decoration. The simple shapes by their beauty enhance the daily en­ enable energetic painting with colorful vironment, that is my primary motiva­ slips. More complicated shapes will sup­ tion. Throughout history, people have al­ port two or three glazes, but no brush- ways been concerned with enriching work. This balance is important and their surroundings; and the concept of personal. functional art has a much older tradition The slips are colored with oxides or than does that of art for art's sake. One stains. Brushed over white earthenware, finds in the contemporary marketplace, they are fired to Cone 04. Then, a trans­ for example, blue-and-white Ming (from parent gloss or satin glaze is applied. 1368 to 1644) or Qing (from 1644 to 1912) Wollastonite (up to 30%) added to a porcelains going for over $200,000 at basic gloss glaze gives beautiful satins. auctions such as Sotheby's. In fact, all The "Hide & Seek" title for my plates is the ceramic pieces fetching exorbitant translated from the French jeu de cache- prices common to the current art mar­ cache. The word "cache" has a double ket are essentially utilitarian wares: bowls, meaning in French. Besides "hide," it vases, teapots. also means "stencil." Some sprayeurs TOP "Hide & Seek" bowl, 71 inches in With dinnerware, artists have a dual de rues (graffiti artists) use caches for diameter, wheel-thrown white earth­challenge: in addition to the technical their wall expressions. enware, with brushed slips and clearconcerns, they must resolve the raison I use brushes, caches and a banding glaze, fired to Cone 04 in oxidation, d'etre. I find it interesting to push utilitar­ wheel. Leather-hard plates are banded by Patricia Glave. ian limits to the extreme. During 1988, at full speed. A base color is laid down. while living in New York City, I worked on Next, the precise, fine lines are applied CENTER Slip-decorated white earthen­ metamorphoses of two to three teapots with a long brush laden with slip. With the ware bowl, 14 inches in diameter, in series, showing a movement from the banding wheel stopped, I paint freely. clear glazed. functional toward the nonfunctional. The geometric caches tear up the ABOVE Patricia Glave glazing the inte­ Thus, the form can be freely articulated, composition, violently cutting the brush­ rior of a teapot in her Lausanne, Swit­ in one instance or another, unfettered stroke to allow another color, another zerland, studio. by the limitations of utility. gesture, another pattern to emerge. "Merry-Go-Round" teapot, approximately 8 inches in height white earthenware with brushed slips, by Patricia Giave. namic is rooted in the Fiesta ware de­ signed by Frederick Rhead in 1935. Unexpected visual subtleties arise from use. How tomatoes appear on chartreuse, as opposed to turquoise or purple, makes a difference. When filled with coffee, the interior of a cup changes from negative space to positive. The shape of the coffee then mutates as it diminishes from the rim to the bottom. Mealtime can be a powerful psy­ chological forum. The quality of conver­ sation, food and dinnerware can en­ hance the depth of meaning and resid­ ual memory each person carries from realize that "limits" attached to func­ that table. Later, these pots on a shelf The Function tional pottery were not about function can visually trigger remembrance. The of Dinnerware or pottery, but the limits of the maker. If power of such memories cannot be function were truly limiting, pottery would underestimated. In my aesthetic, this is by Andy Martin have died as a creative act long ago. the function of dinnerware. These con­ With my first slip-cast dinnerware, I cerns will not set the world on fire, yet was interested in the psychological they distinguish functional pottery from For several years, slip-cast dinnerware has stages of a formal dinner with the dishes nonfunctional pots—the ability to stimu­ been an increasingly important focus in playing a parallel role: salad plates late observations of function and use. my work. Initially, the dishes were wheel glazed yellow to contrast with green let­ thrown, slip decorated and celadon tuce, orange carrots and red peppers. Recipes glazed. Though I had made pots with The colors were intended as an intro­ Casting Porcelain (Cone 10) molds, I had never applied the process duction to the meal and a social ice­ Custer Feldspar...... 25 lbs. to tableware. Then, while in graduate breaker. Fish plates were an aquatic Ball Clay...... 14 school at Alfred University, I reached a turquoise. The dinner plates had a gen­ Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 6 stalemate with both methods. Frustrated erous proportion with a deep purpleGrolleg Kaolin...... 30 Flint ...... 25 and demoralized, I left for Christmas glaze—a nearly neutral ground forfood. 100 lbs. and went to Europe. Dessert plates were glazed chartreuse, Mix with 40 pounds of water and approxi­ After seeing Minoan sarcophagi and turquoise and yellow, and loosely dec­ mately 140 grams of sodium silicate. bathtubs in Crete, and Isnik tiles in Tur­ orated to parallel the more relaxed Showsaver Glaze (Cone 10) key, I made the decision to solve pro­ atmosphere at the close of the meal. Barium Carbonate...... 22.89 % duction problems through the use of On leaving Alfred, it took me two and Gerstley Borate...... 3.84 molded spouts, handles, lids that fit, and a half years to develop the current five- Strontium Carbonate...... 12.98 footed bowls. I was never interested in piece placesetting. While a participant Wollastonite...... 3.37 Nepheline Syenite ...... 26.92 an industrial aesthetic—which seems in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Ball Clay...... 9.52 more related to the two-dimensional arts/industry program, I began with the Flint (325 mesh) ...... 20.48 than three-dimensional. My interest has salad/luncheon plate. A request for 100.00% always been in water-related qualities bowls came a year later, followed by a Colors are made with the following additions: Chartreuse of clay: plasticity; volumetric form; and large dinner plate, and finally by a cup Chrome Oxide ...... 0.50 % fluid, color-charged glazes. and saucer. Each part arrived in its own Leaf Green Reading Robert Venturi's "Complex­ time outside a conscious effort to create Chrome Oxide ...... 0.30 % ity and Contradiction in Architecture" a "set." Copper Carbonate...... 1.50 % Lead Green was a revelation. He shuns the modern­ As I look at the current grouping, Copper Carbonate...... 0.20 % ist maxim "either/or" in favor of "both/ many sources are obvious. The forms Turquoise and," shedding new light on old dilem­ relate to French porcelain, the sponge Cobalt Carbonate ...... 0.25 % Copper Carbonate...... 0.20 % mas. Pottery could be both functional decoration to English Staffordshire and Purple and decorative, hence inclusive rather American folk pots, and the high-fired Cobalt Carbonate ...... 0.25 % than exclusive. This way of thinking could alkaline glaze palette is from Isnik tiles. Manganese Carbonate ...... 1.50 % Blue be applied to form, decoration, color When the dishes are used, their col­ Cobalt Carbonate ...... 0.50 % and historical sources. I also began to ors may be mixed or matched. This dy­ Copper Carbonate...... 1.00 % A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio

ABOVE Slip-cast porcelain dinnerware with mix-and-match glazes by Andy Martin, Denver.

PRECEDING PAGE, LEFT Porcelain placesetting, slip cast, with sponged glaze decoration.

PRECEDING PAGE, RIGHT When glazing dinnerware, Andy Martin considers the visual subtleties that arise during use. cerns which inform this dinnerware. public's immediate feedback, which Dinnerware My studio is located in a factory contributes to the quality and integrity as Metaphor erected during the 1890s. The post, beam of our products. and brick structure was built to last. Its In my claywork, I try to pay careful by Dick Lehman "slow-burning-mill" construction, distin­ attention to detail; to pursue the integ­ guished by the dense and oversized rity which links process and product. wooden infrastructure, was state-of-the- However, I try not to be so serious or art fire safety in its day. And its open singleminded that I have no time for that layout has accommodated a variety of great leveler: humor.

When we create dinnerware, we work with needs with a kind of timeless architec­ And, of course, in spite of all the a variety of criteria. At opposing ends of tural foresight which tends not to go out control and care, pot making is still com­ the spectrum are technical aspects (how of style. Over the years, the structure has pletely a relational activity—a kind of we do it), and motivation (why we do it). been home to four quite different busi­ dance between clay and potter. Mak­ While these are quite different concerns, ness pursuits: a soap factory in its begin­ ing dinnerware is a relational experi­ they are of necessity related. If we are nings, two different bag factories, and ence. If not, the results are neither inspir­ successful with the "how-to," good utili­ now a center housing ten fine arts and ing nor persuasive. Only the potter's tarian tableware is the result. But if the crafts businesses. presence allows work to transcend the "why" is well integrated, the work begins By virtue of its longevity, the building sterility of "departmentstore dinnerware" to point beyond itself. carries with it a sense of history which (however well-made) with its slip-cast Technical aspects of my dinnerware both accompanies and transcends and hydraulic-pressed and (might I add) production are at once straightforward time. Particularly noticeable is the dishonest "throwing rings." and simple: Porcelain slabs are made by "advertising," painted in huge letters, When we as potters are accessible; slapping clay down repeatedly, before encompassing the exterior of the build­ when we share the works of our hands laying them into individually made ing. As it turns out, a former owner, in an with others, we and our work enter the molds. The slab is "slammed" into place effort to capitalize on the captive audi­ arena of connectedness. by gently dropping the mold four or five ence of a nearby rail line, used the build­ Dinnerware, perhaps more than other times, rotating 90° after each drop. The ing as a giant billboard. And yet not alto­ utilitarian claywork, has the capacity to plasticity of the Grolleg porcelain body gether in a mercenary fashion: each move from "product/object" to "meta­ I use allows the clay to stretch to fill the end of the building sports in bold letter­ phor" —connecting between things well form. Next, the rim is flattened with a ing "bagology," an obviously made-up known and those barely known (to para­ rolling pin, stretch marks are smoothed word which both suggested just how phrase an idea of photographer Robert with a sponge, and an approximate rim seriously they took their bag making, but Adams). is cut with a needle tool. Final rim defini­ which also dared to poke a bit of fun at Dinnerware naturally brings people tion is hand cut at the leather-hard state. themselves and coax a smile from the together around the most common ne­ (A similar production method was de­ rail passengers riding by. cessities of life: sustenance and nurture. scribed in "Styrofoam Press Molds," by The artists/craftspeople who now And one strength of pots as metaphor is Scott Frankenberger, in the September work at the Old Bag Factory, as the that they not only point beyond them­ 1982 Ceramics Monthly.) center is called, create and sell their selves, but they are also with us now. Fine Decoration is accomplished with products on site. All strive for outstand­ dinnerware has the potential for helping stains and oxides brushed over the raw ing quality and creativity—work that us to find, even though a small way, af­ glaze. A Cone 9 reduction firing follows. mirrors the durability, quality and integ­ fection for life and beauty in living. When luster accents are needed, a rity of the building that houses them. But if dinnerware doesn't imply some­ Cone 015 oxidation firing is added. The shops are open and accessible thing beyond a set of utilitarian table­ The technical process is simple, but to the public—there can be interaction ware, then the work will likely hold nei­ as time passes, I am finding that my mo­ with the artists/craftspeople. Benefits to ther our attention nor our passion for tivations for making dinnerware are in­ this design are mutual: the public seems more than a passing moment. creasingly complex. To my surprise, I am to appreciate the proximity of creation Dinnerware as metaphor may sug­ discovering similarities between the to creator (perhaps reminiscent of an gest much of what we need to know qualities of the historic building in which earlier, less depersonalized time in retail­ about living together peaceably and I work, and the motivation and con­ ing); similarly, we artists benefit from the productively. When the various and sep- A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio

arate pieces of the whole set come to be seen both in their individuality and as a related part of the whole, their meta­ phorical power may be unleashed. And because metaphor is experienced dif­ ferently by each of us, its power for good , is as diverse as those who experience it. An article I read recently suggested that in 25 years the sit-down, home- cooked family meal at the end of the day will be a thing of the past. I hope the writer is wrong, and not simply because mealtime together is perhaps of tradi­ tional or romantic value. I hope the writer is wrong because mealtimes and their attending preparation take time. And relatedness always takes more time than alienation; the making of beauty, more time and care than the making of ugli­ ness.

About this portfolio "The Evocative Placesetting," a juried national exhibi­ tion of dinnerware, was presented re­ cently at Martha Schneider Gallery in Highland Park, Illinois. From the slides submitted, Ceramics Monthly editor Wil­ liam Hunt selected the ware of three potters—Patricia Glave, Dick Lehman and Andy Martin—for presentiation along with the gallery's stable of three dinnerware producers—Stanley Mace Andersen, Dorothy Hafner and Vicki Stone. This portfolio is concerned with the first three, artists whose work has re­ ceived little major coverge previously. Their works represent a broad slice of current directions in functional dinner- ware, on aspect of ceramics that ap­ pears to be enjoying a resurgence of interest as studio potters respond to public demand for innovation and style as well as utility. Industrial potteries, too, have responded in recent years with variations of their own, often mimicking the look of the handmade through mass production, thus demonstrating just how compelling is the art of the studio ce­ ramics movement worldwide.

TOP A former factory (shown circa 1900) houses Dick Lehman's studio.

SERIES ABOVE For production plates: pugged porcelain is thinned by slapping it onto the work surface; the slab is eased into a cut Styrofoam mold and sponged smooth; then the rim is rolled flat and trimmed with a needle tool. Press-molded porcelain dinnerware, with brushed stains and oxides: by Dick Lehman,, Indiana. Goshen October 1989 51 Itinerary day, $80/2 days, $110/3 days. Registration dead­ Hungary, Siklos through October Forming 8 with line: October 13. Contact Lee Arts Center, 5722 plaster molds, and firing in salt and raku kilns, Continued, from Page 16 Lee Highway, Arlington 22206; or phone (703) with Maria Geszler, Zsofia Hajdu and Imre 358-5256 or 358-6960. Schrammel. Instruction in English or German. Fee: $1500, includes materials, firing, lodging tion contactjohn C. Campbell Folk School, Route International Events and meals. For further information contact Istvan 1, Brasstown 28902; or phone (800) 562-2440. Komor, Baranya Creative Colonies, Siklos, Vajda Ohio, Canton November 27-28 A session with Australia, Perth October 4-December 3 “First Perth Janos ter 2, H-7800; or phone (operator assisted) Martha Holt. Contact the Canton Art Institute, International Crafts Triennial,” includes “Ameri­ Siklos 462. 1001 North Market Avenue, Canton 44702; or can Figurative Ceramics” and “Australian Crafts— Italy, Faenzathrough October 8 The “46th Interna­ phone (216) 453-7666. The Urban Experience”; at the Art Gallery of tional Competition of Art Ceramics.” through Ohio, Columbus October 14 “Wayne Bates Clay Western Australia, Perth Cultural Centre. October 22 “From the Artist to the Museum,” Workshop.” For further information contact Canada, Montreal, Quebec through October 14 featuring ceramic works by Pablo Picasso; at JoAnn Stevens, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, 2164 “Majolica”; at Centre des Arts Visuels, 350, ave­ Palazzo Delle Espozioni, Corso Mazzini, 92. Riverside Drive, Columbus 43221; or phone (614) nue Victoria. Italy, Florence (Firenze) through October 31 Two- 486-7119. Canada, Ontario, Dundas November 3-5 Fall sale week general pottery courses with Jules Brunt, Oregon, Portland October 21-22 “No Compro­ of works by the Potters’ Guild of Hamilton and John Colbeck, Pietro Maddalena and Katharina mise with Gravity” and “Experimental Raku Fir­ Region; at the Dundas Community Centre, King Noerbel. Instruction in English, German or Ital­ ing,” with Harvey Sadow; fee: $80, nonmembers and Market Streets. ian. Fee: 970,000 lire (approximately $680) per $89. Studio fee: $6. Contact Oregon School of Canada, Ontario, Gananoque October 7-8 “Art session. For further information contact Pietro Arts and Crafts, 8245 Southwest Barnes Road, Colony Studio Tour,” including that of sculptor Maddalena, 50020 Marcialla, Firenze; or phone Portland 97225; or phone (503) 297-5544. Celia Kainz; at Thousand Island Parkway. (571) 660084. Pennsylvania, Doylestown January 16-April 17, Canada, Ontario, Toronto through October 15 Japan, Mino October 22-November 5 “Second In­ 1990 Tilemaking workshop. Registration dead­ “Ontario Crafts ’89,’’juried regional; at the Craft ternational Ceramics Competition ’89”; atTajimi line: October 10, 1989. Contact Moravian Pot­ Gallery, Ontario Crafts Council, 35 McCaul St. City Special Exhibition Hall. tery and Tile Works, 130 Swamp Road, Doyles­ November 3-5 “Fourth Annual International Ex­ Netherlands, Deventer through October Works 8 town 18901; or phone (215) 345-6722. hibition of Miniature Art”; at Metro Toronto by Henriette Syatauw, Hans de Jong and Noor Pennsylvania, Richboro October 14-15 Demon­ Convention Centre, 207 Queen’s Quay West. Camstra. October 22-November 26 “New Explora­ strations and discussion by British potter John England, London through October 8 “Out of the tions of French Ceramics,” an invitational exhi­ Leach. For further information contact Pennsyl­ Wood,” an exhibition of works inspired by the bition featuring works by Aline and Loul vania Guild of Craftsmen, Box 820, Richboro tree as image or symbol. October 25-fanuary 7, Combres, Francoise Mussel, Arnaud Lang, Thie- 18954; or phone (215) 860-0731. 1990 “The Harrow Connection,” pottery by staff baut Chague and Charles Hair; at Kunst Sc Ker- Texas, Dallas October 21-22 Demonstration by and alumni; at the Crafts Council Gallery, 12 amiek, Korte Assenstraat 15. British potter John Leach; at Lynch Hall, Univer­ Waterloo Place. Netherlands, Oosterbeek through October 9 Mag- sity of Dallas. For further information contact England, Sussex, Uckfield through October 14 gi Giles and Natascha Zaludova. October 15-No- William Brigham, 6024 Lantana Lane, Fort “Lamps and Candleholders”; at Ashdown Gal­ vember 12 Jan de Rooden and Johnny Rolf; at Worth, Texas 76112. lery, 70 Newton High Street. Galerie Amphora, Van Oudenallenstraat 3. Texas, San Antonio October 20-22 “Not-Quite- Finland, Helsinki through October “Craft29 Today Switzerland, Nyon through October 29“Triennale the-Usual Pit Fire,” with Bennett Bean. For fur­ USA,” an exhibition of works by American art­ de la Porcelaine”; at the Castle of Nyon. ther information contact Southwest Craft Cen­ ists; at Taidetollisuusmuseoi (Museum of Ap­ Turkey, Istanbul through December 15 “Iznik: The ter, 300 Augusta, San Antonio 78205; or phone plied Arts), Korkeabuorenkatu 23, 00130. Pottery of Ottoman Turkey”; at the Museum of (512) 224-1848. France, Nan^ay through December 17 Claude Turkish and Islamic Arts, Ibrahimpasa Palace. Virginia, Arlington October27-29“Form and Fire,” Champy, sculpture; and Aline Favre, layered West Germany, Hohr-Grenzhausen through No­ with Mary Roehm, director of education at Pe- porcelain and stoneware sculpture; at Galerie vember 26 “Deutsche Keramik 89”; at Ker- wabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan; fee: $8/first Capazza, Grenier de Villatre. amikmuseum Westerwald, Lindenstrasse.

52 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 53 it. I’ve tried firing flat items on edge, which this, I fill egg cartons with aquarium gravel, Suggestions works for some. However, others will warp. then nest the jewelry face down until the from our readers To alleviate breakage and still pack a backs are level. Voila! And because the tight bisque load, I’ve developed a system backs stay level, findings won’t shift as the using small bisque-fired cones as setters. By glue dries.— Diane Hoover, Charlotte, N.C. placing these setters (three per layer) be­ tween plates, I can fire a fairly high stack Prolonging Pencil Life Racks Dry and Transport Pots without putting any breaking stress on any To prolong the life of your ceramic I never had enough shelf and table space of the plates. Care is taken to position the pencils, keep a knife sharpening stone for all my pots, until I came across the handy. A sharp point can be honed many bread trays used by restaurants. They are times before resorting to a pencil sharp­ fantastic for drying, storing and transport­ ener.—Mrs. D.J. Hamilton, San Mateo, Calif. ing pots to the kiln. And, because the sides and top are open like grates, the pots dry Quick Release for Cutters and Molds very evenly. All my smaller pots fit into If you use “cookie” cutters or press molds these racks, and they will stack as high as I where quick release is desired to enable want. Also, I know that four trays full will setters equidistant, at exactly the same place faster production, try sprinkling the clay amount to a kiln load. They’re very easy to in each layer. slab with ordinary flour just as you would carry one or two at a time—Robin Grunloh- Besides distributing the weight harm­ when baking cookies. The flour burns off Willey, Effingham, III. lessly, the setters allow heat to circulate in bisque firing. Some powdery residue evenly to the centers of the plates.—Marvin may remain on the surface, but can be Erasing Mistakes Bartel, Goshen, Ind. easily brushed or blown off. This technique When applying colorants on bisqueware, has worked well for me on even the wettest try using a rubber eraser to remove un­ Plastic-Coated Paper Templates of clay bodies, and has greatly increased my wanted splatters or mistakes; it will work Use a good quality, plastic-coated paper production.— Melinda Crane, Troy, Ohio. much quicker and do a more thorough job plate to make templates for slab work. They than a wet sponge. Plus the eraser can be are durable and unaffected by dampness. I Dollars for Your Ideas shaved and sharpened to reach intricate attach masking tape ears to the surfaces for Ceramics Monthly pays $10 for each suggestion areas.—Doris Waddell, Mountain Home, Ark. easy pick up.—Suzanne Hershey, Rocky Hill, published; submissions are welcome individually Conn. or in quantity. Include an illustration or photo Plate Stacking Setters to accompany your suggestion and we will pay When I have lots of flat items, like plates, Leveling Jewelry to Attach Findings $10 more if we use it. Mail your ideas to CM, to bisque fire, I find that stacking them Three-dimensional earrings or pins can Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212; or FAX to tends to place too much poorly distributed be a problem if they won’t lie flat when it’s (614) 488-4561. Sorry, but we can’t acknowl­ weight on the bottom piece, thus breaking time for attaching the findings. To solve edge or return unused items.

54 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 55 New Books

Supporting Yourself as an Artist ticipants to jump through hoops—to make by Deborah A. Hoover special exhibition pieces or follow a par­ ticular show theme that may well be outside For this second edition of her 1985 re­ the artist’s areas of interest. Artists then will source guide for independent artists in all find the gamble of entering too costly in media, the author has updated references terms of transportation, slides, documenta­ and appendixes, and revised several sec­ tion, time and anxiety. tions to include information on new means “For artists, there are many levels of of financial support. Some sources iden­ disappointment: not getting accepted; not tified in the first edition have disappeared. being a prizewinner; not getting the prize. “I was not surprised that this would occur,” They can’t even leap for joy when they are writes the author. accepted, since it’s difficult to gloat in front “Indeed, it is com­ of one’s rejected and dejected friends. They monplace in the arts have little control over the show’s organiza­ that the rate of turn­ tion, installation and documentation. over of organizations ‘Jurors want the show to go their way. is high and the life of Failing to understand the needs of the or­ many new initiatives ganizers, they risk jurying too tightly or too is short. There is a loosely or just plain inappropriately. They lesson in this: an im­ want to curate rather than to adjudicate, portant part of the forgetting that their job is to select the best process of support­ among eligible en­ ing yourself as an tries, not to redefine artist is thp rpffnlar the territory. They and systematic revision of your informa­ feel sheepish after tion on potential funding sources and the the whole process is opportunities they provide.” over; and, rather The guide begins by offering sugges­ than taking it on the tions on how to systematically and eco­ chin as a hired gun nomically identify potential support should, they fluctu­ sources; then focuses on information man­ ate between stressing agement—keeping files, organizing a mail­ how ‘subjective’ the ing list, maintaining a portfolio, etc. The jurying process is and maintaining how im­ next section discusses types of support (ma­ portant it is to have ‘objective’ standards.” terial as well as financial), legal assistance, Consequently, the first section of this taxes and bookkeeping. book is devoted to “setting the stage”: de­ With the basics outlined, the text fur­ termining the exhibition’s goals, choosing ther describes how to find appropriate appropriate jurors, writing a comprehen­ funding for a specific project, making the sive call for entries, and preparing the sub­ initial contact, writing a proposal, and ap­ mitted works for jurying. propriate follow-up. 255 pages, includ­ The next section explains the various ing appendixes on resume preparation and methods of jurying (both rigid and flex­ organization addresses, glossary, bibliogra­ ible) , and identifies situations when organ­ phy and index. $29.95, hardcover; $9.95, izers should keep their opinions to them­ softcover. Oxford University Press, 200 Madi­ selves and when they should speak up. son Avenue, New York, New York 10016. “Unless there is a single juror, and perhaps even then, it is desirable for the facilitators The Trials of Jurying to suggest a clear decision-making struc­ ture for the jurying process; otherwise the A Guide for Exhibition Organizers event can become tediously long or unduly and Jurors arbitrary.” by Susan Eckenwalder Jurors, in turn, are reminded that “de­ In this spiral-bound guide to possible spite best intentions, a variety of human ways of handling a jurying situation, the failings can affect the jurying process and author (a Canadian artist/critic with years many otherwise human virtues can here of jurying experience) begins by pointing prove counterproductive.” Ten aesthetic out that it is frequently difficult to mesh traps to avoid are identified in the subsec­ expectations with reality. “Often organiz­ tion entitled “Pitfalls and Cautionary Tales.” ers aim too high. They don’t understand The guide concludes with a section where juried shows fit into the scheme of debating the pros and cons of giving artists an artist’s life—certainly above student direct feedback through individually tai­ shows and community fairs, but well below lored comments. 85 pages, including bibli­ solo exhibitions and retrospectives. ography. $5.25 ($6 Canadian), plus $2 post­ ‘Juried shows are not invitational. They age and handling, softcover. Ontario Crafts do not guarantee acceptance. Perhaps for­ Council, 35 McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario getting this, organizers often expect par­ M5T1V7, Canada.

56 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 57 58 Ceramics Monthly 77 artists for display at the Hotel de Ville News 8c Retrospect and Aula Magna du Chateau in Yverdon- les-Bains through July 23. Founded in 1959, ASK today has a membership of approximately 400 profes­ sional ceramists. The purpose of the bien­ nial is to introduce the public to a cross section of contemporary ceramic ideas, particularly the diversity of various tech-

Nothing snail paced about the prices paid for these untitled cups, each approximately3 A inches 2 in height, made in 1968 by Ken Price; the group sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $52,250

Record Price for Ken Price Cups Health Administration (OSHA) has again Though it has yet to join its competitors, postponed application of the asbestos stan­ Christie’s and Bonhams, in promoting an dard to the three nonfibrous mineral forms auction devoted to contemporary claywork, of tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite. Sotheby’s of New York (perhaps testing the These minerals occur in a number of art market) recently slipped two lots of “cups” materials, including most ceramic talcs, byKen Price, into a sale of primarily contem­ American vermiculite and some clays.” “Erstarrte Tone (Solidified Tone)” approxi­ porary paintings from the collection of the While there has been hedging by produc­ mately 18 inches in height, glazed earthen­ late Edivin Janss, Jr. The first lot, listed in the ers, many researchers believe the nonfi­ ware, by Kathi Muller catalog as “Untitled: Five Ceramic Cups,” brous form is also a potential carcinogen. with a presale estimate of $30,000-$40,000, “Asbestos minerals occur naturally in niques and firing processes by which the drew a record price for Price—$52,250 with two major forms: fibrous (asbestiform) and artists translate these ideas into reality. nonfibrous (nonasbestiform). The fibrous The ASK prize for the under-35 age forms are already regulated as asbestos. category went to Michael Gelzer for his “per­ However, debate about the hazards of the sonal, humorous expression”; while top nonfibrous forms continues unresolved. prize for the biennial was awarded to Kathi “OSHA announced that it stayed the Muller for her sculpture which denotes a standard in order to draft a proposed rule “condition directly related to the malaise for public comment [scheduled for publi­ of our society.” Photos: Jean-Jacques Charrere. cation this month]. The final rule is now due November 30,1990. Vivika and Otto Heino “Summaries of research and estimates “Colors,” an exhibition of the classical, of risk are always included in proposed wheel-thrown bowls, bottles and vases of rules. If OSHA meets its own deadline, Vivika and Otto Heino, was featured recently 1973 cup, 35/s inches in height, with six pieces; artists and other consumers finally will have at MOA Art Gallery in West Hollywood, sold for $41,250, double the presale estimate data from government sources to compare California. Together, the Heinos account with suppliers’ claims of product safety.” for some 90 years of claywork—more than the 10% buyer’s premium. The second lot, 50 for her and over 40 for him. Most of an untitled cup with six accompanying rock- Swiss Biennial their pots are collaborative, signed either like pieces, brought double the presale es­ The 15th biennial competition of the in Otto’s block letters or Vivika’s script. timate of $15,000-$20,000 when the ham­ Association of Swiss Ceramists (ASK) drew The Heinos met in New Hampshire, mer went down at $41,250, including the 806 entries from 152 artists. From these a shortly after World War II, in a pottery premium. seven-member panel selected 329 works by class—Vivika was the teacher; Otto, the student. Teaching positions drew them to OSHA Ruling Awaited “Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan (I am not a California in 1952, and since 1973 they The August issue of ACTS Facts, a news­ sailor, I am the captain)” approximately 12 have lived in Ojai (near Los Angeles) in a letter on arts, crafts and theater safety, re­ inches in height, porcelain, by Michael Gelzer house/studio once owned by Beatrice Wood. ported that the “Occupational Safety and About the Heinos, fellow Southern Cali­ fornia potter/teacher Laura Andresonnoted: “Otto has the strength and talent to pro­ You are invited to send news and photos duce wondrous, big pots. He is quiet and abou t people, places or events of interest. We modest, but expresses joy and enthusiasm mill be pleased to consider them for publica­ when he speaks of his work. In his ceramic tion in this column. Mail submissions to forms, one feels the pressure of the space News & Retrospect, Ceramics Monthly, Box within the pot which gives life and beauty 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. to the form. The decoration he applies to

October 1989 59 News 8c Retrospect with energy from students who went on to become very successful artists. For the first time in my life, at the age of 21,1 was proud to be an Indian.” He began his commercial art career in Santa Fe, later moving to Anchorage, Alaska. It was there, in 1973, that he was introduced to clay. “I immediately fell in love with the medium. It was very exciting and limitless. I felt I had found something with which to express myself as an artist and a person.” Ranging from 14 to 21 inches in height, the stoneware figures in the exhibition were coil built from the feet up, and accented

Crackle-glazed porcelain bottle, 9 inches in height, by Vivika and Otto Heino; $1000

plates and bowls fits the shapes, becoming a part of the total concept. “In contrast to Otto’s personality, Vivika is more vivacious and outgoing. She is ready to share their vast knowledge of glazes, clays and firing ‘know how.’ Her work in

“Father Sky, ” approximately 21 inches in height, stoneware, with high-jire glaze accents

with a muted palette of high-fire glazes. “My work is simply a statement about de­ sign, color and materials,” Desjarlais com­ mented. “There is a clear visual sense of the medium in these pieces.” Returning to New Mexico, Desjarlais earned a bachelor of art degree from the College of Santa Fe, and is now a member Stoneware covered jar, 12 inches in height, with white glaze decoration; $500 of the IAIA faculty. Photo: U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts, Southern Plains Indian Museum and Crafts Center. porcelain and stoneware has a more deli­ cate aspect, glazes with beautiful surfaces Mark Ferri and rich colors.” North Carolina potter Mark Ferri won See the cover story in the October 1977 the Best of Show award for his “Raku Vessel CM for an in-depth look at the Heinos’ with Floating Spheres and Checkerboard” production methods and glaze recipes. (‘Raku Vessel with Floating Spheres and Larry Desjarlais Checkerboard, ” 14 inches in diameter, wheel thrown, with airbrushed underglazes Ceramic sculpture and paintings of Native American figures by Larry Desjarlais, a Chippewa, born on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota, were exhibited recently at the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Andarko, Oklahoma. Desjarlais remembers “growing up in an extremely prejudiced area.” It was not until he enrolled at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe to study commercial art that “I learned to recognize my heritage and that of other Indian cul­ tures. IAIA was at its prime and bursting

60 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 61 News & Retrospect

at this year’s “Winterfest” in Charlotte. The “Checkerboard Series” was developed last winter while Ferri was at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. With the pots in this series “I have tried to capture a feeling of space and harmony,” he commented. Photo: Mitchell Kearney. Linda Shusterman/Alan Willoughby NewJersey pottersLinda Shusterman and Alan Willoughby recently exhibited func­ tional and decorative ware at both Jackie Chalkley Galleries in Washington, D.C. In his work, Willoughby emphasizes the interplay between form and surface. Large oval, round and triangular terra-cotta plat­ ters are decorated with geometric, poly­ chrome patterns, using brushed slip, paper resist, slip trailing and incising techniques. Shusterman also works with colorful slips on porcelain bowls, platters, vases and mugs.

“Platter with Black Spiral, ” 20 inches in di­ ameter, porcelain, brushed with polychrome slips, clear glazed, fired to Cone 10, by Linda Shusterman

She uses repeated patterns, bold spirals and floating shapes metaphorically to ex­ press themes such as land- or seascapes. Pamela Young A camping trip to the Southwest proved to be a seminal experience for Rhode Is­ land potter Pamela Young, whose vessels for fruit, food and flowers were featured in a recent solo exhibition at the Cooper Gal­ lery in Manalapan, Florida. Not long after the trip, lobed, gourd- and squashlike

“Bosworth-Pottage Set, ” glazed terra cotta, with 18-inch-diameter casserole

62 CERAMICS MONTHLY shapes began to appear in her latest work. “These organic forms merged with my longtime interest in African hair styles and the butterfly whorls of unmarried Hopi girls,” Young commented. “Handles and protuberances like hair buns began to elon­ gate and extend the vessel format into an ellipse. “Slowly forming by hand provides a counterpoint to the techno-industrial world. There is evidence of process, hu­ man touch and imperfection. A certain accidental unevenness, irregularity occurs as the pieces go up pinch by pinch.” Most of Young’s work makes use of a pedestal foot, “a reference to classical Greek pottery, in an attempt to elevate the vessel literally and symbolically.” Surface designs also refer to historical precedents. “I aim for a muted, faintly iri­ descent color scheme reminiscent of old pots whose glazes have begun to oxidize. These faded, aged, ‘distressed’ colors refer to an earlier time, to Pompeian frescoes, Tang dynasty ceramics. ”Photo: Michael Price. Tom Suomalainen Based on Shintoism, where non-living objects are believed to also possess life force, works by North Carolina ceramist Tom Suo­ malainen are abstract figures representing “the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature.” Often these stone­ ware sculptures include snake, bird or fish forms as symbols recognizable to people of various cultures worldwide. A dual exhibition featuring Suoma- lainen’s animal/human forms was on view

“Man/Bird”and “Woman/Bird, ”each approxi­ mately 22 inches in height, stoneware recently at Somerhill Gallery in Durham, North Carolina. Photo: R. Jackson Smith. The Ancient Southwest by Susan Shoobe A survey exhibition of artifacts from the American Southwest, representing cultures which flourished between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1500, was presented at Hurst Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, through August 31. Among the objects on view were early pots and potters’ tools recently re­ trieved from private lands. Continued

October 1989 63 News & Retrospect After A.D. 700, agriculture (which had suf­ fered a decline during the previous 200 years) again became important, with maize, beans and squash being principal crops. While early Mogollon sites are often situ­ ated on easily defensible bluffs, ridges or mesas, later sites are located in valleys, near streams and rivers. Later settlements are distinguished by the addition of masonry surfaced rooms added to the pit dwellings. Concurrent with the Mogollon were the Hohokam, who occupied the semiarid Sonora Desert of Arizona. They were farm­ ers who employed irrigation to grow maize Tools of the ancient craft reflect a handbuild- and other crops. Their villages were com­ ing technique still seen around the world: posed of scattered brush structures built mesquite paddle, 8 inches in length, with sand­ over shallow pits. Although many villages stone anvil and basalt anvil, circa 1275-1425 seem to reveal no formal plan, they were sustained by extremely complex canal sys­ The Southwest, which includes present tems. Very active traders, the Hohokam day Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and possessed a wide range of luxury or relig­ Utah, has been continually inhabited for ious artifacts, including sculptural vessels, an estimated 10,000-20,000 years. Here, figures, plus shell, bone and stone objects. the Hohokam, Mogollon, Anasazi and other The Santa Cruz red-on-buff plate, shown cultures developed distinctive agricultural below, represents the Hohokam ceramic societies, well suited to the arid environ­ tradition at its height. The plate’s interior ment. Extensive trade networks were main­ was painted with a coiled rattlesnake mo­ tained, with luxury goods and raw materi­ tif—forked tongue apparently darting from als coming in from as far away as the Cali­ its mouth. fornia coast. The Salado lived in Arizona and New Most of their pottery was formed with Mexico circa 1300-1500, often locating coils, and shaped with paddles and anvils. their multistoried pueblos near or on top The anvil was used to support from the of the earlier pit houses or pueblos (of the inside, while the paddle compressed the Mogollon Mimbres phase). Many archae­ pot’s wall and defined the surface. ologists theorize that they migrated into While some vessels were left plain, oth­ the area after it had been abandoned by ers were decorated with iron, manganese the Mogollon peoples. The Salado also and kaolin slips. Most were then burnished migrated into the Salt and Gila River basins before firing. occupied by the Hohokam. Because techniques and designs were The exhibition also included examples specific to certain peoples, it is possible to of pottery produced by the Anasazi culture, learn about the development of styles, which occupied the Four Corners area of population changes and trade routes Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico through Southwest pottery studies. circa 100 B.C. to A.D. 1600. In contrast to The Mogollon culture occupied an area the Mogollon and Hohokam, hunting was astride what is now the Arizona-New Mex­ an important subsistence activity for much ico border from 300 B.C. to A.D. 1400. of Anasazi history; it was not until A.D.

Santa Cruz red-on-buff plate, 12 inches in diameter, circa 800-1200

64 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 65 News & Retrospect

Socorro black-on-white bowl, 9 inches in di­ ameter, circa 1100-1275

800-1000 that agriculture predominated, settlements increased in size and multisto- ried pueblos were built around plazas. “Stack I (Out-of-State Plates),” 21 inches in Intricately decorated Anasazi vessels height, souvenir plate sculpture were created for ceremonial use. The So­ corro black-on-white bowl shown above, a memorative plates purchased across the late piece decorated with four kachina country, he creates “vessel-shaped aggre­ figures, still exudes an energy that must gates. In a sense, they become like pages of have accompanied the ceremonies in which information in a closed book, with enig­ it was used. Photos: courtesy of Hurst Gallery. matic bits and pieces only partially revealed. “My motivation or obsession for this work New York Benefit lies in a desire to be a collector of things; a “Collect New York,” the fifth annual auc­ cultural archaeologist culling through thrift tion to benefit the Empire State Crafts Alli­ stores and garbage heaps, excavating the ance, was held last spring at the Fabri Man­ castoffs from our throw-away culture,” sion in New York City. Offered in the juried Baron explained. “The ‘dig’ has become and invitational auction were some 110 just as important to the creative process as works in clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood. the actual making of the sculpture. Prior to the event, the works were on “The ‘stacks’ have a classical elegance to display at a Show of Hands Gallery on the them, evoking visions of ancient vases and Upper West Side, at Carlyn Gallery on urns, yet they can also be viewed as epito­ Madison Avenue and at Wallengren Gal­ mes of the world of objects in our contem­ lery in Soho. Participating ceramists in- porary culture.” J. M. Cohen/Vaughan Smith Functional earthenware by J. M. Cohen and Vaughan Smith (see “Westcote Bell Ceramics” in the May 1986 CM) was fea­ tured in recent exhibitions at two Ohio locations: Helen Winnemore’s in Colum­ bus and Sylvia Ullman Gallery in Cleve-

Covered jar, 24 inches in height, terra cotta, with colored slips, by Vaughan Smith; $450

Pitcher, I2V2 inches in height, and cup, cast porcelain, by Marek Cecula, New York City

eluded Regis Brody, Marek Cecula, Paul Chal- eff, Marilyn Dintenfass, Andrea Gill, Dorothy Hafner, James Makins, Nancee Meeker and Arnold Zimmerman. Ronald Baron Flea markets and garage sales are the source of raw materials for Ronald Baron, whose work was featured recently in a solo exhibition at Milford Gallery in New York City. With dinnerware, souvenirs and com-

66 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 67 News & Retrospect

land. Cohen’s and Smith’s forms are wheel thrown, then decorated with airbrushed polychrome slips sprayed over paper sten­ cils and sgraffito drawings. As self-taught potters, they evolved a decorative approach from college print- making and painting studies. The slip sten­ ciling technique is related to silkscreening, while the sgraffito comes from work with woodblocks and linocuts. The dense im­ agery covering their work is drawn from personal experiences: English landscape, old houses and farms, and their six cats. Juan Granados Stoneware sculpture by Juan Granados, Victoria, Texas, was shown in “The Ninth Desert West Juried Art Exhibition” in Lan­ caster, California, and in “The Greater Midwest International Exhibition IV” at

Rugged Mountain Form #10,” 4¾ inches in height, stoneware, with needle-raised surface

Central Missouri State University in War- rensburg. Much of his work focuses on texture. For a series of “mountain” forms, the surfaces were scratched repeatedly with a sewing needle anchored in a pencil eraser. The heavily textured forms were then cov­ ered with red iron oxide, bisqued, and finally fired to Cone 5. Photo: Blair Jenson. Richard Burkett “Clay, with its vessel tradition and its fragility, seems especially appropriate to the house-as-vessel-which-contains-the-fam- ily metaphor, and more importantly as the vessel of many of the most essential of our memories,” commented Richard Burkett (faculty artist at the University of Wiscon- sin-Madison). Regarding the sculpture shown recently at the Madison Art Center and at Lill Street Gallery in Chicago, he also sees this work as “apt metaphors for the upheaval, disarray and disruption which I’ve felt in my own life, and which I see around me. The breaking up of homes and families is something I find particularly tragic. The home, while an eternal con­ cept, is a rather tenuous reality.

68 CERAMICS MONTHLY “The Terrors of Domestic Life 2,” approxi­ mately 20 inches in height, slah-built earthen­ ware with layers of china shards

“Much of my recent work,” Burkett con­ tinued, “has included the image of broken china, often layered between rough clay slabs like the walls of an archaeological dig. Having been a self-employed potter for 12 years, I still love the forms and ideas that go hand in hand with pottery. Pottery as a container has taken on a new symbolic presence in my sculpture. These new ves­ sels have a close relationship to the same

“Vortex Vision, ”16 inches in length, clay and lead, by Richard Burkett concerns with form, gesture and balance that were the mainstays of my pottery, but are meant to hold less tangible contents.” Women/Paint/Earth A recent exhibition at the Artisan Gal­ lery in Northampton, Massachusetts, fea­ tured terra-cotta vessels with polychrome imagery byMoi Dugan, Smithville, Tennes­ see; Judy Kogod, Takoma Park, Maryland; Nausika Richardson, Dixon, New Mexico; and Farraday Sredl, Tempe, Arizona. Among the works Nausika Richardson exhibited in “Women/Paint/Earth” was the 20-inch majolica tray shown on page 70. She had worked with stoneware and porce­ lain for ten years, before being “attracted to earthenware and its many color possibili-

October 1989 69 News & Retrospect green, it was wheel thrown, then paddled and faceted. Lucy Breslin “A Certain Slant of Light,” a solo exhibi­ tion of fluidly twisting vessels by Lucy Bres­ lin, Portland, Maine, was featured recently at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia. A for­ mer artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and re­ cipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study pottery in Spain (see “Spanish Folk Pot­ Majolica tray, 20 inches in length, by Nausika tery,” in the April and May 1989 CM), Bres­ Richardson lin cites interest in historical ceramics from many cultures, and believes that a pot ties. I like the aliveness of surface that the should be seen as a composite of structure red clay provides—even when covered with and image. “The structure holds the image a white glaze. Because of the lower firing range, forms are more crisp and colors remain as they are applied by the brush. Every hand motion is evident on the sur­ face. I feel also that in this medium I can allow more spontaneity and variety of color. ” Paul Stein Featured in a recent exhibition at Mi­ chael Himovitz Gallery in Sacramento were sculptural porcelain vessels by California

“Autumn Leaves, ” 20 inches in height, white earthenware with polychrome glazes

and the image holds reverberations which extend beyond the work itself. “While dissection can serve a purpose, the whole always equals more than the sum of parts,” she commented. “Talking about art never equals the experiencing. “To talk about structure means to talk about medium, conventions, construction, interrelationships. To talk about structure means to talk about conscious decisions. “To talk about image is more difficult. The image is not a likeness; nor does it serve as a simile. And neither is it a symbol. Perhaps it could be described as a vessel, a repository for what, at best, is partially known. “Many cultures, including the Peruvian, Iberian, Nigerian and Minoan, attached great importance to their pots. Not only did their pottery extend the significance of “Chirimoya Vessel, ” 24 inches in height, wheel- thrown, paddled and faceted porcelain ritual, it participated in ritual. It carried sacrifices to the gods. It enwombed the powers of fertility. It eased safe passage to potter Paul Stein. The forms were wheel the other world. It envisaged mythologies. thrown, and often altered by paddling, fac­ In other words, it reaffirmed life. eting or incising. “Without totally understanding their The vessel shown above might have, at world, either its natural or supernatural first, appeared to be a conceptualized pine­ counterparts, the people of these cultures apple or elongated artichoke, but was actu­ were asked to believe in more than that ally inspired by the South American chiri­ which they knew. As artists, we too are moya fruit. Glazed translucent seafoam asked to believe similarly. At the same time,

70 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 71 News & Retrospect Simon, Portland, Oregon, was presented recently at FireWorks in Seattle. Inspira­ tion for these laminated and inlaid forms “lies in the rhythm, movement and vitality of natural landscape. This body of work is concerned with the many simultaneous

“Sun Catcher,” 10 inches in height, by Lucy Breslin, Portland, Maine

we always struggle to understand more. Our art becomes a means for discovery.” Sally Chapman/Carolyn Wagner Ceramists Sally Chapman and Carolyn Wagner (from Colorado and Wyoming, re­ spectively) recently exhibited sculpture and wall reliefs at Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Characteristic of Wagner’s works on view is “Cutthroat Castle,” from a series of “Desert Night Images” that “emanate “Aerial View, ” 9½ inches in height, laminated and inlaid colored clays, fired to Cone6 in from the history and prehistory of the South­ oxidation; $85 west desert area,” says the artist. “There the land is a harsh, but yet a nurturing, protect- levels on which we perceive our environ­ ment. For example, beneath a superficial layer of randomness or chaos, there may be an order or structure; beneath that struc­ ture there is a perpetual current of energy. “Working with colored clays allows me to use the material as both a structural and painterly medium,’’Simon explained. “Each piece begins as a ball of white clay that is wrapped with several thin layers of colored clays. The final layer will become the domi-

“Undercurrent III, ” 24 inches in length, hand- built, colored stoneware platter, by Maria Simon; $260

nant color of the finished piece. As I stretch the ball of clay into a slab, the layers thin; “Cutthroat Castle, ” 38 inches in height, an underlying pattern emerges and creates handbuilt, from a series of “Desert Night Im­ ages, ” by Carolyn Wagner a visual structure upon which to build fur­ ther, using inlays and sgraffito. Forming is done over bisqued hump molds, and ing and spiritual force that impacts upon around cardboard and plywood forms. All the inhabitants in a multitude of ways. My work is left unglazed on the exterior (vases intent is to transcend the shapes of the are glazed only on the inside), and fired to desert and transform them by the limita­ Cone 6 in oxidation. tions imposed by darkness.” “The resulting illusive depth of the sur­ face comes from using an opaque medium Maria Simon as if it were transparent. Undergraduate “Undercurrents,” an exhibition of hand- studies in printmaking and sculpture pro­ built colored stoneware vessels by Maria foundly influenced the way in which I ap-

72 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 73 News 8c Retrospect decoration. In the past 20 years, he has also explored sculptural form that, liberated from the limitations of the symmetrical container, appear as pure masses floating proach clay. Accustomed to building im­ in space while anchored to a chromed metal ages with color, I was unsatisfied with build­ base. Photos: Schenk and Schenk. ing a form, then considering the skin or surface. So I began to use the physical prop­ David Schirm erties of the plastic clay, e.g., its capacity to Sculpture and paintings by State Uni­ stretch, break through and bend, in order versity of New York assistant professor David to build fluid form as well as an active Schirmwere featured recently at Nina Freu- surface. For me this offers a perfect mar­ riage between sculptural and graphic media.” Photos: David Browne. Harrison McIntosh MOA Art Gallery in West Hollywood, California, celebrated its first anniversary with an exhibition of vessels and sculpture byHarrison McIntosh. A potter for nearly 50 years, McIntosh began working with clay in 1939, studying withGlen Lukens at the Uni-

“Towering Duck ” and “Voodoo Lily,”6*/4feet in height, polychromed stoneware

denheim Gallery in Buffalo. Much of the

Bottle, approximately 7 inches in height, work is derived from the concept of the wheel-thrown stoneware, with wax resist house as a “metaphor for feelings or hu­ decoration, matt glazed;$1200 man conditions. Each is trying to establish itself as a container for all feelings or memo­ ries similar to how a house contains the his­ versity of Southern California. Later he tory of its occupants,” Schirm commented. studied at Claremont with Richard Petterson, “From the simple house shape, which then with studio potter Marguerite Wilden- was like a sarcophagus, the forms became hain. During this time he was influenced by elongated into towers, stretched into lines Bauhaus and Swedish design. or songs. Each of these pieces is ‘sung up’ Preferring the subtle, controlled possi­ from the earth, something like the aborigi­ bilities of Cone 5 oxidation firing over the nal belief that all forms and beings were accidental qualities offered by reduction, ‘dreamed’ or sung into existence by their McIntosh has concentrated on producing ancestral spirits.” Photos: BiffHenrich. sleek forms often with overall rhythmic Show of Hands Series “Mass in Space,” 6 IV2 inches in length, cast A series of solo exhibitions featuring stoneware with blue and black engobes, matt new works and works in progress by Cynthia glazed, on chromed steel, by Harrison McIn­ Chuang, Jeff Cox, Caryn Kreitzer and Nina tosh, Claremont, California; $2500 Lipkowitzwas presented recently at a Show of Hands, a 17-year-old craft cooperative in New York City. On display first were Cyn­ thia Chuang’s “Objects,” slab-built geomet­ ric forms with handbuilt insects, decorated with inlaid colored clays and lusters. Shown next were “Markings,’’wheel-thrown spher­ ical vessels, with layers of brushed and air- brushed slips and glazes, by Nina Lipkow- itz. Third in the series was an exhibition of Jeff Cox’s wheel-thrown functional stone-

74 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 75 News 8c Retrospect

Glazed stoneware casserole, 12 inches in diam­ eter, thrown and faceted, high fired in reduc­ tion, by Jeff Cox

ware. Last was “New York Vases,” Caryn Kreitzer’s earthenware forms with brushed slips and sgraffito drawings of city scenes. “Having a Bad Day, ” 15 inches in height, wheel thrown and altered, raku fired, by Mark Chat- Best of Ohio Design terley, Okemos, Michigan “The Best of 1989,” a juried multimedia exhibition featuring works by members of Martin for a glazed earthenware double Ohio Designer Craftsmen, opened at the pot. In addition, merit awards were given to Columbus Cul­ Adele Barres, Mark Chatterley, Dorothy Levin, tural Arts Center, Matthew Metz, Marie Woo and Robert Piepen- then traveled to burg. Miami University Now in its 31st year, the association has Art Museum in a membership of 350 professionals, teach­ Oxford, Ohio, for ers, students and hobbyists. presentation through August Japanese Influences 9. From a field of “Fragile Blossoms, Enduring Earth,” an 435 entries by 156 exhibition of approximately 90 American artists, juror Lois and Japanese ceramic objects, was pre­ Moran, executive sented at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, director of the New York, through August 27. Organized American Craft in conjunction with a spring symposium Council and edi­ exploring American fascination with and tor of American reliance on Japanese aesthetics and tech­ Crafts magazine, niques during the past century, the show selected 95 works focused on the decorative japonisme works (29 in clay) by 87 of the art pottery movement and the more artists for the recent works influenced by the earthiness show. of the mingei (Japanese folk) traditions. When review­ Since 1950, Americans have sought to ing the slides, understand the underlying attitudes and Moran looked for beliefs of Japanese potters. This has led work which con­ veyed “a singular voice, a devel- *Dog and Cat Bottle oped style, a mas- with Antelope Stop- Qf material per, 28 inches high, by , . Annette MeCormick, and technique, Lucas, Ohio; $500 aesthetic daring, a fully executed complexity. Surprise, serenity, simplicity— these and other qualities emerge from the best works.”

Michigan Ceramics ’89 The 12th “Michigan Ceramics” exhibi­ tion, sponsored by the Michigan Potters’ Covered jar, 7V2 inches in height, stoneware, Association, was held at the University of wood fired, by Paul Chaleff, Pine Plains, New York, 1982 Michigan’s Slusser Gallery. Juror Robert Sperry, University of Washington faculty art­ ist, selected 92 pieces from 324 entered. many to a Zenlike reverence for the con­ First prize was awarded to Adele Barres cepts of beauty (as expressed in the wares for a raku sculpture; second went to Su- of Shigaraki, Bizen, Iga and Seto) and a sanne Stephenson for a glazed terra-cotta wall closer association with materials and firing plate; and third prize was won byFrank techniques. The result has been more

76 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 77 News & Retrospect tem has allowed me to increase the scale of my work and to move my ideas from table- top objects to larger, free-standing sculpture.” Photo:John Carlano. Len Eichler “Archaeological relics,” vessels and col­ umns with imbedded objects that appear to be remnants of past civilizations, by Syracuse ceramist Len Eichler, were featured recently at Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Massa­ chusetts. While Eichler’s work speaks of times past, it also addresses the current state of civilization, as the imbedded ele­ ments are analogous to the discarded ob­ jects that litter our streets and roads. In order to successfully raku fire these 60-pound rocklike formations, Eichler begins by assembling various elements when they are at the same drying stage. The clay is “pounded and flattened into slabs, then Wood-fired porcelain vase, 18 inches in height, put in press molds made from found ob­ with natural ash glaze, by Mary Roehm, De­ jects. Unused slabs are allowed to slowly troit, 1987 stiffen so that the moisture content is simi­ lar to the molded objects. “I break and cut the molds to free the emphasis placed on the medium, the pro­ objects, and tear the unused slabs into strips cess and the accidental. Photos: Courtney with a rocklike texture. The elements are Frisse, and courtesy of Pewabic Pottery. then assembled by scoring and slipping Elyse Saperstein them together in a master mold, which defines the work’s outer shape. Thirty-six terra-cotta sculptures, rang­ “The assembled piece is removed from ing from small architectural structures to the mold, and refined by adding and sub­ large totemlike stacks, by Pennsylvania tracting elements. Then, completely cov- ceramist Elyse Saperstein, were featured in a solo exhibition at Albertson-Peterson Gal­ lery in Winter Park, Florida, earlier this year. Primarily interested in form, Saper­ stein finds the totem format to be “very useful in my current work. It is a format that artists from various cultures have used to stack modules, creating architectural structures which incorporate a variety of images into one piece. Exploring the to­

“Viesgo, ” 64V2 inches in height, terra cotta, with terra sigillata and slip

“Conglomerate Vessel #18, ”24 inches in height, with imbedded press-molded objects, raku fired

ered with newspapers, it is allowed to dry for about three weeks. “Once dry, the piece is gently bisque fired. A subsequent glaze firing in an elec­ tric kiln allows the clay to harden enough to build columns, but remain open enough for carbon penetration in the raku firing. “This final firing is done in a liftable kiln fueled by propane. The burner is turned up very gradually so that the tem- Please Turn to Page 87

78 Ceramics Monthly October 1989 79 80 Ceramics Monthly Tips from the Flame by Virginia Pike

FORTHREE cold, blustery days lastjanu- his work. Brown made pots ahead and cutting torch and the usable length of ary, Roy Brown, owner of Old Town arrived in Carlsbad prepared with a flame in his wood-burning kiln gave Pottery of Tularosa, New Mexico, pre­ truckful of bisqueware. He typically usesRobinson the inspiration for these sented a workshop centered around texture and very little glaze on much of modifications. He reasoned that con­ the firing of a Phoenix wood-burning his ware. He was eager to see what trolling the flame length would result kiln modified by Bruce Robinson of would happen to his pieces in the wood in greater fuel efficiency, better tem­ Carlsbad, New Mexico. firing. Cold wind deposited sand and perature control and more attractive Brown and his wife Joy are full-time grit in the pots he and Robinson loaded flashing. By simply removing a brick potters, who use about 12 tons of clay into the kiln. Brown pronounced the from the chimney, he created a flame per year to produce functional ware wind a “potter’s nightmare.” Robin­ spy hole. It is at approximately the same sold from their studio and at a few craft son, however, was prepared to handle height as the top of the arch of the shows. Before opening the Tularosa every contingency and blocked the chamber. Robinson says that flames shop in 1982, Brown had earned an wind with a garage door, shielding the reaching above this point merely draw M.F.A. from Southern Methodist Uni­ kiln and its firers. In fact, the kiln and heat from the kiln and waste wood. To versity, and was an artist-in-residence at all the wood were housed inside a large make certain that a minimum height is the Craft Center of the University of shed made entirely of scrounged ga­ maintained, the three shelf dampers Oregon, Eastfield Community College, rage doors. are not inserted, and the flame can be Dallas, and Southern Methodist Uni­ Robinson has built four other kilns monitored by looking through their versity. But never before had he partici­ and is a veteran of many wood firings. openings into the chimney. pated in a wood firing. He had made special modifications to Another significant modification Back home at his own studio he fires this 40-cubic-foot Phoenix crossdraft Robinson made to this kiln was to brick a 40-cubic-foot fiber kiln with natural so that he could “fire by the flame tips.” in the firebox opening and install two gas. So he was pleased to have a chance Seeing a connection between the 50cfm (cubic feet per minute) blowers to see how wood firing would enhance usable length of flame from a welder’s to force air into the firebox through 4-

Roy Brown throwing a large vase at a workshop in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

right Cross-section of Bruce Robinson’s wood-burning kiln; note the spy hole in the chimney to monitor flame height. After reaching 500°F with wood alone, blowers force air up through the firebox and help carry most ash into the ware chamber; first, one blower is used until about 1500°F; then the second is added. Should flame become too high in the chimney, the second blower is shut off until needed again. October 1989 81 Bruce Robinson with the bricked-in firemouth, blowers and air adjustments ), and verification at the chimney spy hole, aid manifolds; two former boiler doors cover the stoke holes. fuel efficiency without harming temperature rise; below is a Controlling flame length at this end of the kiln (with stoking/ typical time/temperature chart for this firing technique. inch-diameter, cast-iron pipes drilled ing just a dash of cedar or pinch of flashlight as soon as the first few bricks with holes. Two old boiler inspection green aspen in order to control the had been removed, Brown lit the over­ doors act as covered stoke holes. The height of the flames. cast day with a smile. The rich sheen of blowers help carry the ash up into the Cone 10 was reached in about 18 ash glaze gracing his pots was “better chamber, and thus achieve the desired hours, using approximately 1½ cords than finding gold,” he said. A ash deposits. One blower is kept run­ of wood. Flames were ning throughout the firing; the other never visible at the only part of the time over 1500°F. mouth of the 12-foot- Stockpiled in the shed was ash from tall stack. Reduction Oklahoma, green aspen and oak from was achieved by over­ Colorado, oak from Texas, mesquite loading the firebox. and apple wood from New Mexico, The wood ash re­ cedar from Washington and one “sym­ maining in the fire­ bolic” stick from Alaska. During the box after the firing firing, Robinson watched the tips of was very fine grained, the flame and the pyrometer constantly, with no cinders; all and adjusted accordingly. Green aspen the fuel had burned was used to bring down the height of quite efficiently. the flame when it went above maxi­ By 1:00 RM. on mum. As Robinson selected wood for Sunday, the kiln was stoking, Brown likened him to a mas­ ready to open. Peer­ ter chef seasoning a delicate dish, add­ ing inside with a

82 CERAMICS MONTHLY OF ALL the endless glaze possibilities variables, and develop a better under­ is in direct contact with the flame, al­ available to the studio potter, reduced standing of the process. though surviving pieces sometimes can luster glazes (often called Arabian lus­ An inexpensive luster kiln can be be spectacular. ters) are among the most dramatic and made from any derelict electric kiln by Pots to be lustered are typically fired elusive. Even though the general chem­ removing the elements and packing in another kiln to stoneware tempera­ istry of a kiln’s reduction atmosphere any openings with scrap refractory fiber tures (either glazed or unglazed). Al­ is well understood, the potter pursuing insulation, then installing any efficient though low-temperature clays may be such surfaces must develop firing skills burner and an accurate pyrometer used, the durability and the ring of a through trial and error. While infor­ (preferred in this case over pyrometric lustered stoneware vessel set it apart mation on reduced lusters, first devel­ cones). Burner ports and flues may be from the luster of raku and other low- oped in Persia in the ninth century, is wheel thrown from a high-tempera- temperature processes. As in any mul­ detailed in such books as Herbert ture clay body. The interior of the kiln tifiring procedure, the piece must have Sanders’s Glazes for Special Effects, re­ is then washed with a slip made from good thermal shock resistance, and sults cannot be predicted with absolute the same clay. firings should be slow. A variety of re­ certainty. This is primarily because of A tall bag wall, created by a kiln shelf sults may be obtained by applying the the highly complex chemical nature of nearly the height of the kiln, keeps the luster over fired stoneware glazes, par­ smoke and flame. But, by keeping and flame from directly impinging on the ticularly those containing copper. If analyzing reasonable records, the ex­ work, thus allowing more consistent the luster glaze is to be applied to an perimenter can become aware of the results. Much work can be lost when it unglazed clay surface, a fine-grained

Flashes of Luster by Terry Hutchinson

right Electric kiln converted to gas firing for reduced lusters. Note the kiln shelf bag wall, and the temperature probe inserted through the peephole. far right Luster kiln during firing, with chimney damped by a square of kiln shelf. The slight flame at the burner port indicates back pressure.

October 1989 83 clay is desirable. Unsatisfactory surfaces stain and burn the fingers. The luster When the kiln has cooled to 1500°F, can be sprayed again with the same or glaze is sprayed on the heated pot, it is rekindled, and a strong reduction a different luster glaze and refired un­ taking care not to cool it too quickly, is induced by damping the flue and til the result is successful. which might cause cracking. increasing the gas until a slight back Lusters are applied after the high The pot is then placed in the con­ pressure (indicated by flame) is seen at firing—fired pots are reheated to 400°F, verted luster kiln and slowly fired to the burner port. The kiln is then al­ then placed on a turntable in an out­ red heat. Temperature increase may lowed to cool to 1000°F, while main­ side spray booth. A respirator and ap­ then proceed more rapidly, until the taining this smoky atmosphere, then propriate clothing must be worn for desired peak is reached. At that time, a turned off to cool naturally. protection against skin contact or teaspoonful of copper carbonate is breathing the toxic metals in the glaze, inserted through the burner port, and The author Terry Hutchinson maintains particularly silver nitrate which can the kiln turned off and sealed. a studio in Lake Grove, Oregon.

Recipes

The following recipes should variations in temperature can Variable Luster Glaze provide some success for potters change the luster effect. (2100°F, reduction) interested in pursuing the elusive Frit 3269 (Ferro) ...... 100.00% beauty of reduced lusters: Gold Luster Glaze Add: Bismuth (1900°F, reduction) Subnitrate ...... 5.26% Body for Burner Ports 8c Flues Barium Carbonate ...... 5.26% Silver Nitrate ...... 5.26% (Cone 10) Frit 3134 (Ferro) ...... 47.37 Works well sprayed over many Kaiser Mexico Frit 3304 (Ferro) ...... 47.37 glazes, especially Black/Brown. Milled Fireclay...... 50% 100.00% Petalite ...... 40 Add: Tin Oxide...... 8.84% Spodumene...... 10 Black/Brown Glaze Zinc Oxide...... 10.55% (Cone 10) 100% Bismuth Dolomite ...... 13.15% Add: Bentonite ...... 5% Subnitrate ...... 1.66% Gerstley Borate...... 8.80 Silver Nitrate ...... 2.21 % Whiting...... 6.14 Peacock Luster Glaze Works best sprayed over bare clay. Kona F-4 Feldspar...... 35.08 (2100°F, reduction) Kentucky Ball Gerstley Borate...... 34.3% Silver Luster Glaze Clay (OM 4)...... 10.52 Lithium Carbonate ...... 9.0 (2000°F, reduction) Flint...... 26.31 Frit 3269 (Ferro)...... 53.1 Lithium Carbonate ...... 9.80% 100.00% Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 3.6 Soda Ash ...... 0.99 Add: Red Iron Oxide...... 12.00% 100.0% Frit 3134 (Ferro) ...... 26.04 Add: Bismuth Subnitrate.. 1.5% Frit 3269 (Ferro) ...... 43.17 Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 6.14 Brick Red Liner Glaze Silver Nitrate ...... 1.5% (Cone 6) Flint...... 13.86 Works well sprayed over Saturated Gerstley Borate...... 20.28% 100.00% Blue Glaze. Custer Feldspar...... 13.81 Add: Molybdenum...... 2.48% Frit 3134 (Ferro) ...... 14.21 Saturated Blue Glaze Silver Nitrate ...... 2.97% Spodumene ...... 10.48 (Cone 10) Works best sprayed over bare clay. Edgar Plastic Kaolin ...... 16.18 Gerstley Borate...... 4.80% Flint...... 25.04 Lithium Carbonate ...... 5.71 Copper Luster Glaze 100.00% Talc...... 5.71 (1900°F, reduction) Add: Zinc Oxide...... 4.76% Tricalcium Phosphate...... 10.47 Gerstley Borate...... 50% Chrome Oxide...... 1.05% Whiting...... 7.61 Ferro Frit ...... 50 Cobalt Carbonate... 3.14% Custer Feldspar...... 51.42 100% Copper Carbonate.. 1.05% Flint...... 14.28 Add: Tin Oxide...... 6% Red Iron Oxide...... 5.24% 100.00% Black Copper Oxide ... 5 % Bentonite ...... 2.09% Add: Cobalt Carbonate... 5.00% Works well sprayed over both bare This glaze fires black in oxidation, The following gold, silver and clay and fired glazes. Copper in brick red after reduction for lus­ copper luster glazes work well lusters tends to flux the glaze, and ters. Works well under most of the sprayed one over the other. Slight brightens any gold luster. preceding luster recipes.

84 CERAMICS MONTHLY October 1989 85 86 Ceramics Monthly News & Retrospect Continued from Page 78 perature climbs only 400°F per hour. At 1200°F, when the glazes are sufficiently hot and reactive, I raise the kiln, shocking the piece with cold air for about 20 seconds, before covering it with a trash can filled with straw. Reduction lasts only a short time; however, the piece is not uncovered for at least an hour to allow the smoke to clear and to ensure that the straw will not reignite.” The resulting “Conglomerate Vessels” and “Time Columns” are intended to reflect “how nature has and probably always will incorporate the remnants of civilizations,” Eichler commented. “By using recogniz­ able external shapes (columns and vessels), I am making references to the timelessness of human creativity and also its tenuous existence.” Photo: Dana Salvo. Patti Warashina Figurative sculpture by Seattle artist Patti Warashina was presented in a recent exhi­ bition at the Jane Hartsook Gallery of Greenwich House Pottery in New York City.

“Imposter, ” 21 inches in height, whiteware, with low-fire glazes, underglazes and lusters

Characteristic of the works on view, “Im­ poster” was assembled from cast whiteware elements, and surfaced with low-fire glazes, underglazes and lusters. Robert Turner Throughout his 40-year career, artist/ teacher Robert Turner (Alfred Station, New York) has devoted himself to working pri­ marily with stoneware, developing forms whose concept depends as much on the history of ceramics as on influential im­ agery. The pots shown recently at Helen Drutt Gallery in New York City refer to the primordial cultures and geography of West­ ern Africa and the American Southwest. Manipulation of form and subtle glaz­ ing were employed to evoke a sense of earth surfaces, from the quiescence of fos­ sil rock to the energy of an erupting vol­ cano. The wheel-thrown shapes were al­ tered, added to and incised to embody a

October 1989 87 News & Retrospect monochromatic, revolving around a basic palette of red-brown, white and blue-black. Photo: B. Oglesbee. McKenzie Smith Loosely wheel-thrown, functional stone­ ware vessels byMcKenzie Smith, Miami Beach, were featured in the “Vlth Annual Alumni Invitational” exhibition at Miami-Dade

Oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches in length, stoneware, wood/gas fired

Community College last summer. Smith re­ ceived an A.A. degree from Miami-Dade “Form 2,” 11½ inches in height, with cinder black glaze, Robert Turner Community College in 1982 and went on to earn a B.A. at the University of South Florida in 1986. His current work reflects delicate balance between geometric bal­ his interest in the rich surfaces achieved ance and organic sensuality. Glazing was with various firing techniques.

88 CERAMICS MONTHLY