March 1994 1 William Hunt...... Editor Ruth C. Butler...... Associate Editor Kim Nagorski...... Assistant Editor Randy Wax...... Art Director Mary Rushley...... Circulation Manager Mary E. Beaver ....Assistant Circulation Manager Connie Belcher...... Advertising Manager Spencer L. Davis...... Publisher

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Ceramics Monthly {ISSN 0009-0328) is published monthly except July and August by Professional Publications, Inc., 1609 Northwest Boulevard, Columbus, 0hio43212-0788. Second Class post­ age paid at Columbus, Ohio. Subscription Rates:One year $22, two years $40, three years $55. Add $10 per year for subscrip­ tions outside the U.S.A. In Canada, add GST (registration number R123994618). Change of Address:Please give us four weeks advance notice. Send the magazine address label as well as your new address to: Ceramics Monthly, Circulation Offices, Post Office Box 12788, Co­ lumbus, Ohio 43212-0788. Contributors: Manuscripts, announcements, news releases, photographs, color transparencies (including 35mm slides), graphic illustrations and digital TIFF or EPS images are welcome and will be considered for publication. Mail submis­ sions to Ceramics Monthly, Post Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788. We also accept unillustrated materials faxed to (614) 488-4561. Writing and Photographic Guidelines:A book­ let describing standards and procedures for sub­ mitting materials is available upon request. Indexing:An index of each year’s articles appears in the December issue. Additionally, Ceramics Monthly articles are indexed in the Art Index. Printed, on-line and CD-ROM (computer) index­ ing is available through Wilsonline, 950 Univer­ sity Avenue, Bronx, New York 10452; and from Information Access Company, 362 Lakeside Drive, Forest City, California 94404. These ser­ vices are also available through your local library. A 20-year subject index (1953-1972), covering Ceramics Monthly feature articles, and the Sugges­ tions and Questions columns, is available for $1.50, postpaid, from the CeramicsMonthlyBook Department, Post Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788. Copies and Reprints:Microfiche, 16mm and 35mm microfilm copies, and xerographic re­ prints are available to subscribers 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:Send address changes to Ceramics Monthly, Post Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788. Form 3579 requested. Copyright © 1994 Professional Publications, Inc. All rights reserved

2 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 3 4 CERAMICS MONTHLY VOLUME 42, NUMBER 3 • MARCH1994

Feature Artides

Sandy Vitarelli:A Potter in Maui by Mabel Enkoji ...... 30 Portfolio: Coille McLaughlin Hoovenby Karen Greene...... 33 Sandy Vitarelli For a public art commis­ Sadashi Inuzukaby Gloria Hickey ...... 41 sion, this Maui potter recently produced 15 thrown-and-assembled, 41/2-foot-tall stone­ A Reflection of Environmentby Jolyon Hofsted...... 46 ware vases decorated with sgraffito imagery based on Hawaiian flora and fauna; her Meditations on the Garden Potby Suzanne Staubach ...... 49 story begins on page 30. John Woodward...... 51 More Glaze Calculation Software Mary­ More Glaze Calculation Softwareby Rick Malmgren ...... 52 land studio potter Rick Malmgren exam­ ines the strengths and weaknesses of six The Hydnocerus Seriesby Paul Sherman ...... 54 computer glaze programs; page 52. The American Way ...... 57 The American Way Juried by American Byzantine Serres Ceramicsby Mary Kelton Seyfarth ...... 60 ceramists Scott Chamberlain and Betty Woodman, a touring exhibition of imagi­ Feats of Clay VI...... 91 native yet functional North American pots is challenging concepts across the United Smokeless Saggar Firingsby Macy Dorf...... 92 Kingdom; see page 57.

Up Front

Angela Verdon ...... 14 Rising from the Ashes ...... 14 Warren MacKenzie and Friends ...... 16 Connecticut Annual ...... 18 Lidia Zavadsky ...... 18 Miniature Teapots ...... 18 National Invitational ...... 20 On Tableware by Deborah Padgett ...... 20 Steve Davis-Rosenbaum ...... 22 Peter Powning ...... 22 Tom Fisher ...... 24 California Collegiate Ceramic Competition ...... 24 William C. Davis ...... 26 Contemporary Salt Glazers ...... 26 Rick Dillingham, 1952-1994 ...... 26

A Reflection of Environment Just as loca­ Departments tion and available equipment have affected his work in the past, a new gas kiln has Letters ...... 8 Suggestions ...... 84 brought New York ceramist Jolyon Hofsted Classified Advertising...... 94 “out of reduction withdrawal”; page 46. Video ...... 28 Call for Entries ...... 65 Comment: The cover Porcelain potter/sculptor Coille Poisonous Pedagogy? McLaughlin Hooven in her Berkeley stu­ Questions ...... 68 by Beth Randall ...... 96 dio; see the portfolio beginning on page 33. Calendar ...... 72 Index to Advertisers...... 96

March 1994 5

Letters was looked upon by classmates as almost forded those who show, are pointing to the having come from Mars—no one had heard important realities in which these shows of Latvia, and if they had, their response wasoperate. Beumee Salute “Oh, but isn’t that Russia now?” Great and But we are certainly not bound by only The publication of David Beumee’s wonderful as America is, it is a political two options: that of continuing to lift the article in the January 1994 issue of CM was entity, and we who are Americans by virtue lucky few on the shoulders of the many our most prized holiday gift. What joy to see of immigration, post-Columbian, are Ameri­ “young, naive, gullible and hopeful” (Lou’s David’s pieces and thoughts inCeramics cans because we swear to uphold its laws anddescriptions), or of not funding or under­ Monthly. He is a paradigm of the traditional ideals. Yet we are free to celebrate St. funding important shows. Surely there must American vessel maker. We salute Beumee’s Patrick’s Day, have polka festivals, open be a variety of options that satisfy the con­ work and CM’s recognition of his views on Greek restaurants, and so on throughout the cerns of all who have written on this issue. porcelain. spectrum of our ethnic origins. But as a One way to begin thinking about this Tom and Denise Tumquist, Lakewood, Colo. Latvian, one is aboriginal; the tribes of the may be to acknowledge the necessity of show Balts and Finns having carved out holdings fees, and to accept the necessity of refundable Pat on the Back on those Baltic shores many thousands of applications. It might go like this: Show I was thrilled to see the article “Back to years ago. We maintained our culture and planners know (or should know) the cost of Basics” [January 1994 CM]. I have observedour ancient language (one of two living planning, promoting, jurying, mounting and that in most ceramics studios the teachers languages closest to Sanskrit, thereby closer toawarding prizes for a fine exhibition. They and students maintain very stressful posturesthe original Indo-European) through the rulealso know approximately how many pieces while working on their art. The stimulus is soof many empires. And no, we were never they will be showing. It would be an easy strong to work on the clay that they forget toRussia, only subject to it. thing to assign a price-per-piece for the exhi­ pause and notice what distorted positions To have an article appear in CM about a bition based on those numbers. Entry fees their bodies have assumed. Latvian potter was, to me, tremendously could be computed by-the-piece. Entry fees It amazes me that many visual artists (I’m elating. That issue awaited me upon my would be kept only for those pieces selected using this term loosely to cover arts and return from a week in Latvia, setting foot into the show. All others could easily be crafts) don’t stop to notice how they use theirthere for the first time in 49 years. returned with the “not selected” notices. bodies while making their art. Yet many For 20 years in the restaurant business I Such an approach would not rule out performing artists understand that their bodieshad to sublimate my desire to mold malleableinvitational components in shows, or need are their instruments. If a flautist plays while matter in the creation of fancy tortes, using otherwise change systems of raising funds for, hunched over, this tension will be evident inchocolate, butter and whipped eggs in place underwriting or endowing shows. It simply her music. of clay. In the future, with some more experi­addresses the fee-for-application shows that If you spend hours in one cramped posi­ ence in making my stretched clay “masks,” I already exist and that have been under discus­ tion, your work on some level will reflect thisshall publicly declare myself as a Latvian sion in CM’s Letters column. physical restriction. When you are open and potter (the masks share more throwing as­ This process would create a direct correla­ available for movement, your artwork can pects than sculpting), and know that at least tion between those who pay and those who more readily mirror your artistic intentions. 35,000 people know what a Latvian potter is.benefit. The only lottery mentality that However, I’m nervous that Catherine Thank you, CM! would remain is that which always attends Grubman is promoting the use of back braces Rozmarija Lieb, Hawley, Penn. the work’s chances of being selected and and harnesses. I know that people tend to (assuming that award monies are gathered overuse a good thing, like taking three pills Sucker’s Privilege from entry fees) the possibility of winning instead of two. I would suggest to only use a I read Jim Connell’s letter in the January back your entry fee as an award recipient. brace under medical supervision because 1994 CM with awe and admiration. Such Some will argue that this seems a crass braces take over the functioning of muscles arrogance is indeed a treasure. way of funding, and that it takes the mystery that need strengthening. I would encourage We suckers (who cannot afford to pay to out of the process. It is and it does. people to wear them only while lifting—not play in all the shows hoping to find the good Some will rightly criticize this proposal as for hours at a time. Their support should notones) will, indeed, have to stay away, as he a blatant means of “buying” publicity. It is, replace the identification and elimination of urges. but only to the extent that entering no­ inefficient postural habits. We will, however, as he assured us, have refund shows already is. Thanks again for such an informative the heady privilege of making his day. Some will complain that this approach article. Barbara Owen, Ellensburg, Wash. places the artist’s ability to pay before the Celeste Kelly, Newark, Del. merit of the artwork. It does, but only in the Show Funding Options same way that no-refund shows already do. Latvia Coverage Appreciated I have appreciated the passion expressed Some will sensitively suggest that such a I cannot describe the feeling the Novem­by those on the many sides of the recent scheme may triple or quadruple the cost of ber article on Latvian potter Peteris Martin­ “show-funding” debate in the Letters col­ show applications, and that the young and sons aroused in me! umn. I find myself agreeing in principle with hopeful (as well as those of more modest Clay is my passion; Latvia is my heritage. the call for integrity in funding these events.means) would be unable to afford to apply. I And in this adopted country of mine, frustra­ I believe the encouragement away from suspect that show fees would change drasti­ tion was my lot for nearly five decades. As a scamming, taking advantage of the gullible, cally, perhaps even more than here suggested. Latvian refugee, dispossessed by the Soviets,or I lottery-type chance-taking are credible But if the young and hopeful are already now calls for improvement in the way these eventsbeing taken advantage of to the extent that Share your thoughts with other readers. All letters are funded. Nils Lou has suggested, perhaps they would must be signed, but names will be withheld on And those who have asked that we be be willing to risk the cost of a few “large request. Mail to The Editor; Ceramics Monthly; realistic about the actual funding costs, the ticket” show fees if they understood that they Post Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212- benefits that result from funding important only pay if they show. The cost in the end 0788; or fax to (614) 488-4561. exhibitions, and the personal benefits af­ may differ little from the experience of losing

8 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 9 Letters Gearheart’s argument drifts between the importance of solid clay modeling as a pro­ cess to create realistic figurative sculpture out in four or five lottery-type, no-refund versus hollow vessel mindsets of would-be show applications each year. ceramics sculptors. He fails to bring up the Some may caution that this way of work­ important argument that, regardless of ap­ ing might cause the better-promoted shows, proach, the work needs to be good to be those juried by more expensive jurors, and included in any critical dialogue. Proper exhibitions housed in finer (more expensive?)training in realistic figure sculpture has little galleries, to price themselves right out of thisto do with great art. And great ability to “fee-for-show” market. That may be true. It sculpt realistically has little to do with great may also be true that shows that have becomeart. Rodin’s sculptures are not about how sloppy and inefficient or that have generatedrealistic they are! One only has to take a excessive profits to their promoters may haveserious look around “The Kiss” or his to reevaluate the way they operate. “Monument to Balzac” to see that his work is In the ’90s, in spite of the “profits-are- important for reasons that transcend realism. cool” mentality, we have had to begin to Rodin, like most “modern” sculptors, em­ come to terms with the cost of doing busi­ ployed a great deal of distortion because he ness, to pull in belts and to at least contem­ recognized that realism for the sake of realism plate no longer mortgaging the future on the went out with the development of photogra­ backs of others. “Fee-for-show” would exposephy in the mid-19th century. By most histo­ the cost of the show and may encourage rians’ accounts, image making through creative, responsible planning that would stillphotography freed artists to deal with issues allow for the really “important exhibitions.” more important than how imitative of life Would such a scheme reduce the number they can be. of exhibitions offered? Who knows, such a And finally, Gearheart’s argument that system may actually increase shows and showceramics sculptors will never make it at­ applicants, as a clearer correlation between tempting to achieve realism through vessel costs and benefits comes into view. Those processes, is presumptive and without rel­ among us who wish for or require the bene­ evance. Certainly, the last century of art, fits of acceptance into juried exhibitions will including recent ceramics, has demonstrated have to pay for these things, as we always a power, an emotive force and a life more have. To nudge ourselves toward more re­ significant than “lifelike.” Gearheart speaks sponsibility taking on the full and true cost oflike a true academician who any teacher from the benefits that we desire, may be a contin­ the French Academy of the 18th century ued step toward our coming of age as artists would be proud to support. of maturity and compassion. Dan Keegan, Buckhannon, W. Va. Dick Lehman, Goshen, Ind. Gearheart Proposal Seconded Gearheart Arguments Refuted Bravo! Phillip Gearheart’s Comment hit Phillip Gearheart makes a selective use ofthe target dead center! (I always read that art history to make a point about “serious section first.) realistic figure sculpture” that is of little or no Let me explain: I have been a professional consequence [Comment, December 1993 potter for over 15 years. I produce quiet and CM]. The truth of the matter is that realistic elegant utilitarian wares at reasonable and figurative sculpture is foreign to most con­ affordable prices for the kitchen and home. I temporary sculpture, period. Arguments suchdo not paint birds, flowers, figures, bunny as Gearheart’s were last given weight in the rabbits, cats, dogs, people’s names or anniver­ art world at the Paris Salon in 1863. And if sary dates on the pots. In fact, I do not deco­ we are to believe them, then the last 150 rate figuratively in any way. My pieces are years of art have surely been a waste of glazed in deep teal, which I’ve used for years, everyone’s time. quiet earth tones and satin matt black. It matters little that most ceramics sculp­ Because of the fact that I do not decorate tors have come to sculpture through a tradi­and never have, my sensitivity to form and tional craft approach. What matters is that byglaze application is much increased. I let the many critics’ accounts, the last 40 years of bones of the piece show through the glaze, ceramics have turned much of the contempo­and let the subtle lines of the form speak for rary art world on its nose through the intro­ themselves. duction of new materials, ideas and I will never forget Paul Soldner’s com­ approaches to sculpture that have no basis inment: “Bad decoration ruins more good pots traditional sculpture materials and process. than anything else.” The strength of contemporary ceramic sculp­ As a student, I studied drawing, painting, ture is found precisely in its rejection of the sculpture, and went beyond the basic require­ lock-step historical tradition of sculptural ments into the more advanced levels of de­ ceramics as a modeling material for bronze sign and technique. For a time, within the sculpture. most private confines of academia, I explored

10 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 11 Letters sure of first meeting Don Bendel 20 years ago. He had a contagious energy and excite­ ment when I met him. He later became my the transference of these techniques into my counselor, mentor and friend. He had a great daywork. However, having been greatly influence on my life and attitude as a young influenced, as many of us were then, by aspiring art student—an influence I still carry Michael Cardew, Shoji Hamada, Bernard with me today. Leach, M. C. Richards, etc., I soon realized It is refreshing to hear Bendel is still that the most meaningful and satisfying Bendel—touching individuals, changing experience I could bring to my work was the attitudes and making art. “The Bendel Way” focus of a potter’s heart to the clay. Ruth is a unique experience. Duckworth is an exquisite example for defin­ Sometimes the educators/influences that ing the sculptural ideal manifest in a potter’s touch so many lives go unthanked or forgot­ heart-to-hands ballet. ten. I just wanted to say publicly: Thanks, So, I have allowed my education and Don. experience in art history and 2- and 3-D Bruce Wood, Groveland, Mass. design to serve my inner sensibilities and evoke contemplative reserve in my work. InFull of Wonder other words, I am a potter, making pots, and Picasso said, “Steal, steal, steal...” Thanks holding in respect the techniques and visionsfor the full-of-wonder images. I anticipate of disciplines that unto themselves bear theirevery issue! own merits, within their self-defined bound­ Adam Vogel, Freeburg, 111. aries. I am not a “grass-roots snob” by any means, or a purist; validation is borne from From the Beginning within, not from critical socialism. But as I want to hear more about beginnings— Gearheart so aptly states: “Shoemaker, stick how potters who have become established/ to thy last.” And quite happily, I will con­ successful first started out; how they worked tinue to do so. and created before they had all their nice Rick Elkin, Warner, N.H. studios and new equipment. How did they heat or keep clay and water buckets from Art from the Heart freezing? How did they make use of a limited Over the past year I have noticed several“dry” ingredients room? How did they ac­ letters slamming those who choose for artis­ quire the land they now own for their kilns tic, intellectual or heartfelt reasons to use and multibuilding studios? Did all of them other materials with their clayworks (for the teach to support it? benefit of John Powell, Letters, December The one thing I have encountered so far is 1993, the term often used in the art world isa very family-like generosity among potters I mixed media). He wrote: “Forget gimmicks have met. Some have even shared their stu­ like gold plating and photographic imaging, dios (when my clay was too frozen to thaw which only hide the clay itself.” This is like next to a small propane heater!). But they all saying to a painter, don’t put that awful started out somehow, and I think many colored stuff on that canvas, you’re only would like to read how. hiding the subtle beauty and simplicity of the Katherine Matthees, Richfield, Minn. bare cloth. Hello, this is the 20th century calling, and Good Old Mom Delivers in case you haven’t noticed, the bare clay and CM is great fun and great learning. The glaze thing has been done. I love clay. I magazine is like a mother with a zillion believe it to be the most versatile material onchildren, all of whom want her undivided earth. Why not expand the realm of clay? attention. The children write in demanding Funk or functional, who cares? Just get your more attention be given to their thing. And butt in the studio and create whatever comesgood old mom is doing a damn good job to mind, hand or heart (for Mr. Powell); and delivering! after you’re done, start over, but try to go one Monica Mann Magee, Woodstock, Me. more step. A gimmick is like a catchy one- liner and lasts about as long. Art from the Correction heart, however, is everlasting, no matter what Well, I goofed. I recently found out the material is used because it is “creative and Roy Lichtenstein work I had always credited exciting,” and will reveal itself in the crowd ofto James Crumrine [January 1994 CM, page fakes. Thank you, CM, for bringing that 24] was in fact a collaboration between Hui work to me for the last 15 years. Ka Kwong and Lichtenstein. Crumrine Dan Bartos, Ketchikan, Alaska collaborated on a series with painter Paul Waldman. Years back, Jim and Hui shared a The Bendel Way studio during this time. On my visits then, The Up Front article on Don Bendel’s discussing what was going on, I got the facts kilnbuilding [December 1993] brought backcrossed. I goofed! Sorry. many, many fond memories. I had the plea­ Jolyon Hofsted, Shady, N.Y.

12 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 13 Up Front craftspeople banded together to organize an alternative, non­ juried fair. They set up their display tables and easels on a vacant lot, using sawdust on the dirt aisles to protect their work from clouds of dust. Now celebrating its 28th year, the nonprofit Angela Verdon Sawdust Festival runs an open-air arts and crafts fair throughout A solo exhibition of bone-china vessels by British potter Angela July and August, plus three extended weekends in November Verdon was presented recently at James Graham & Sons in New and December, in a eucalyptus grove on 2½ acres on Laguna York City. Pure white and paper thin, Verdon’s vases and bowls Canyon Road. are decorated with incised and indented lines and pierced holes. When the fire threatened the Sawdust Festival grounds, quick action by member artists and groundskeepers kept the flames under control. Several sneaked past blockades on Laguna Canyon Road, arriving in time to turn on the sprinkler system and douse small fires. Their selfless action, plus the fact that the city required a 50-foot clearance around the site, undoubtedly saved the festival grounds; all the surrounding buildings and vegetation burned. Immediately after the fire, a command post was set up on the grounds to supply food, clothing, shelter, household items and furniture, as well as information on relief support for artists. Within 48 hours of the fire, the Sawdust Festival also began awarding $500 grants to member artists who had lost their homes and studios. Although the winter festival was just three weeks away, fire victims were encouraged to participate even with little or no inventory, and were refunded their booth fees. Silent auctions at the festival contributed to relief funds as well. Studio potter Mark Blumenfeld, a Sawdust member for 25 years, had finished firing two glaze kiln loads two days before the canyon caught fire, and the lain doors were still shut when the flames reached his studio in Canyon Acres. Though the

Mark Blumenfeld (left) and Jay Grant beside all that remained of Blumenfeld’s studio—his downdraft kilns. Later it was necessary to build a wall of sandbags to protect the kilns from mudslides.

Angela Verdon bone-china vase with incised/indented design, 121/4 inches in height, $2000; at James Graham & Sons in New York City.

Typically, the incisings and indentations flow freely across the surfaces. Light showing through the incisings and piercings enhances the translucent quality of the bone china. Rising from the Ashes Just a few months before California’s recent earthquake and mudslides, three potters lost their homes and studios in the wildfire that swept through Laguna Beach. On returning to the area afterward, they found only their “overfired” kilns rising from the ashes. But all three potters are putting their lives back together, thanks in part to help from the Sawdust Festival. In the late 1960s, a group of Laguna Beach artists and

You are invited to send news and photos about people, places or events of interest. We will be pleased to consider them for publica­ tion in this column. Mail submissions to Up Front, Ceramics Monthly, Post Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788.

14 CERAMICS MONTHLY

Up Front Jones also had“over 500 finished pots in boxes in the house. These were mostly a big loss.” However, some (those “covered with glass, metal and concrete shards that fused to the molten glaze”) were even more interesting to him than those excavated from the garage floor. After the fire came mud slides, an earthquake and more mud, but most of the debris has since been cleared away and Laguna Beach artists are beginning to rebuild. Jones credits the Sawdust Festival with emotional as well as financial support for “the long road to recovery. The festival exemplifies how artists can band together and support one another in times of crisis.” Warren MacKenzie and Friends Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, recently asked Minnesota potter Warren MacKenzie to select six other potters from his area to exhibit with him. Shown together last fall in Bluffton, then at the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus, were 10-15 works (each) by MacKenzie and by Wayne Branum, Robert Briscoe, Linda Christianson, Willem Gebben, Randy Johnston and Jan McKeachie Johnston. Formerly a professor at the University of Minnesota, Mac­ Kenzie has maintained a studio in Stillwater, Minnesota, for many years. (See his portfolio in the September 1989 CM.) As both a teacher and studio potter, he has been influential in

Robert Jones holds one of the few pots recovered intact from the fire debris (above). metal frames distorted, the kilns withstood the inferno and all the pots inside were sold at the Sawdust winter festival. Neighbor Jay Grant, a Sawdust member for 19 years, had Robert Briscoe covered jar, approximately 10 inches in time to load his truck with a few household items before the height, glazed stoneware. black smoke forced him to flee. He returned to find his fire- damaged kiln still standing too, but his home and studio were defining the functional potter’s role in the United States. De­ among the 80% of Canyon Acres that will have to be rebuilt. spite the high demand for his work, he has steadfastly refused to Prior to the fire, Robert Jones’ only building concerns had charge high prices, preferring to make affordable pots that been to build up his inventory for the winter festival. He had people will use and treasure. “over 500 bisqued pots in a converted-garage studio ready to be “I make pots because I enjoy the act of making,” MacKenzie glazed and fired in my electric kiln.” His kiln was damaged commented. “Hollowing the clay to hold something, raising beyond repair, but the bisqueware that survived the “garage walls to stand in the air, defining and enclosing space, establish­ firing” was patterned with orange, red and purple flashing. ing bases to touch a surface and provide stability for a piece—

16 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 17 Up Front ranged from sawdust-fired ritual vessels loosely based on ancient Chinese bronzes to brightly glazed functional ware. Shown (below left) is a wheel-thrown stoneware bowl with applied these concerns are the beginning of pots, but somehow there decoration and copper-red glaze by Kathleen Tynan Helu, must enter into the work a sense of excitement that can com­ Ridgefield, Connecticut. municate between the maker and the user. Out of the thou­ sands of pots made, only a few continue to ring true after many Lidia Zavadsky A series of 13 large earthenware vessels by Lidia Zavadsky, ceramics professor at Israel’s Bezalel Academy of Art, was

Warren MacKenzie temmoku-glazed teapot, approximately 5 inches in height, wheel thrown and fluted, with cane handle; at Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, and the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus. years. These are the ones to learn from since they tap a source beyond the personal and deal with universal experience. The others are useful pots and will provide a ground swell of support out of which the better works emerge. To assess these pieces, one must rely upon intuition and feeling rather than intellectual argument and analysis. Some pots feel right and a person who is open will know them. If given time to absorb the inner nature of the work and its maker, this person will share in the creative act that produced the piece.” Connecticut Annual The Connecticut Clay Artists’ “Annual Exhibition and Sale” was held recently at the Chesebrough Ponds Gallery of West­ Lidia Zavadsky’s “Lotus Flower Jar,” approximately 65 port Arts Center in Westport, Connecticut. The works on view inches in height, wheel-thrown earthenware with yellow and green lead glaze; at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

featured recently at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Produced over a four-month period, these vessels were wheel thrown in stages and oxidation fired whole, or thrown in parts that were assembled with metal fittings after a raku firing. Miniature Teapots An exhibition featuring miniature teapots by John Glick, Farmington Hills, Michigan, was on view at Schneider Gallery in Chicago through January 5. These teapots are part of a series that Glick sees as a response to Chinese Yixing ware. “The reference has to do with my admiration of those exquisitely made wares, and certainly their scale and sheer presence,” he Kathleen Tynan Helu’s “Earth and Sky,”6 1A inches in commented. “My teapots would hold little more than a cup of diameter, stoneware bowl with Cone 10 reduction glaze; at Chesebrough Pond’s Gallery, Westport (Connecticut) tea, and this puts them in quite another realm of use than my Arts Center. larger, daily use wares.” Continued

18 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 19 Up Front exhibition surveying contemporary daywork. Featured were some 150 worlds by 55 American ceramists, including interna­ tionally recognized leaders in the field and emerging talent. Since the gallery’s last survey show ten years ago, many new styles have developed, according to owner William Traver. He saw “a lot more narrative and figurative work, and more surface elaboration.” On Tableware by Deborah Padgett I attended Philip Rawson’s talk on the nonpossibility of art without craft (sponsored jointly by the Northern Clay Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the Walker Art Center in Minne­ John Glick miniature teapots, to 5½ inches in height, thrown apolis) before seeing a tableware show at Northern Clay. and handbuilt stoneware, with layered glazes, $250 each; at Rawson, who is a British crafts/art historian, craftsman, designer Schneider Gallery in Chicago. and author, said, among other things, that when it comes to table ceramics there really is no argument about function versus Both of the teapots shown here were thrown and handbuilt art. Objects for the table are the only type of art we are typically from stoneware, bisqued, Shino glazed overall, brushed with permitted to touch, where we are allowed the “multisensuous” additional glazes, then reduction fired to Cone 10. appreciation inherent in the three-dimensional, crafted objects made by artists. One misses what craft is about, he pointed out, National Invitational if one isn’t allowed to touch it. Concurrent with last fall’s “Northwest Clay Symposium” in The fact that “flat” has come to dominate what we refer to as Seattle, the William Traver Gallery presented an invitational art has damaged our ability to appreciate three-dimensional reality, according to Rawson. | Even three-dimensional work is | all too often created for the eye | of the camera, as opposed to the | experience of the three-dimen- | sional form in its three-dimen­ sional space. “How will this photograph?” is too often the necessary concern of the artist who follows the currently avail­ able avenue to name recognition, visibility and success. Rawson showed us slides, which of course were two- dimensional images, but he made them very real by describ­ ing the multisensuousness of his real-life, real-space experiences with the actual work. Though he failed to convince me that multisensuous experiences are unavailable with two-dimen­ sional craft/art, he made a lovely case for his point by reminding me of the feel of a finely crafted bowl or teacup in my hands, touched by my lips, with surface embellishments I could trace with my fingertips. He talked about decoration as equipping the object to fulfill its function, referring to this final phase of creating as “tactile music” and “celebration.” After this stimulating presen­ tation, I attended the “Come to the Table” show, looking forward to immersing myself in the Eric Nelsen’s “Traveler #6,” 25 inches in height; at William Traver Gallery in Seattle. “tactile music,” the “celebration”

20 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 21 Up Front Davis-Rosenbaum creates salt-glazed porcelain and stoneware for daily use in the home. “My work is about use,” he com­ mented. “The bowls, teapots, soy jars, vases and covered jars are made to be interacted with. “I find that I discover my pottery as I use it,” Davis- Rosenbaum continued. “As we use pottery, we might notice areas we might not have noticed previously: changes in the

Steve Davis-Rosenbaum stoneware teapot, 6 inches in height, salt glazed: at the Kentucky Art and Craft Founda­ tion in Louisville.

surface design or how it feels in one’s hand or how a Cheerio Victoria Christen vase, 10 inches in height, glazed falls to the bottom of the bowl. These revelations can only earthenware: at the Northern Clay Center in Saint happen if we use our pottery on a daily basis.” Paul, Minnesota. Davis-Rosenbaum’s production of functional pottery is motivated by his love of food and cooking. “I enjoy having the at the Northern Clay Center. On display were six dining food that I prepare set in pottery that enhances its presentation environments, several of which were the collaborative efforts of and thus enhances the act of eating,” he said. “The meal be­ two or more artists: Martye Allen with David Mason and Erika comes whole as the food and the dishes interact, and as people Mock; Victoria Christen with Lisa Elias; Constance Mayeron interact socially.” with Fuller Cowles, Dick Huss and Cindie Sinclair; Michael Huyck; Shirley Johnson; and Gail Kendall. Peter Powning The Strathbutler Award, a Can$ 10,000 prize given annually to Steve Davis-Rosenbaum artists working in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Work by Kentucky potter Steve Davis-Rosenbaum was featured went to potter/sculptor Peter Powning. The unanimous choice recently in an exhibition at the Kentucky Art and Craft of the jury, Powning set up his first studio in Markhamville near Foundation’s Downstairs Gallery in Louisville. Believing that Sussex in 1970. At first he sold pots locally, but by 1973 he had functional pottery is the quintessential form of interactive art, begun selling to galleries and shops across Canada. In 1975, he, his wife and another couple opened a craft "Triple Jar Set,” 8 inches in height, wheel-thrown and gallery in Sussex, which sold their own work and that of other assembled stoneware, salt glazed, by Steve Davis- Maritime craftspeople. WTien the gallery closed nine years later, Rosenbaum, Lexington, Kentucky. Powning went back to wholesaling, eventually acquiring ac­ counts in every province plus many states in the U.S. At the same time, he phased out production of porcelain and stone­ ware in favor of raku ware. “To me, the biggest challenge of making a living as an artist is balancing the need for expression and experimentation with the need for income,” Powning commented. “Most of what I make has to pass the test of the marketplace. Wliile I haven’t let this dictate what I make, it does mean that much of what I do must not only have appeal to me but also be accessible to others. This forces a certain practicality to preside over my working life. Periodically I chafe at this, but it also offers an imposed disci­ pline that perhaps, in the long run, has been beneficial. The habits of production, an almost unconscious stream of work, permit the subconscious to work on what are initially intellec­ tual ideas, let them ferment and transmute, connect with universal themes and forms, and evolve into the occasional piece

22 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 23 Up Front horses, six cats and five dogs. When I need a break from work­ ing, I just saddle up and take a ride through the woods,” he explained. that rises above the rest. This process is elusive, transitory and at “Living so closely with nature, I find that many of my pieces the best of times transcendent. Being in the grip of the creative evolve from something I’ve seen on my property,” he added. act is almost always more profound than the resulting piece and is what I love most about being an artist. I also thrive on the

Strathbutler Award-winner Peter Powning. sense of this shared secret’ with other artists. The core of all our striving may vary but there does seem to be a similarity in our compulsions. “I once was traveling in England, and spent a wonderful afternoon with David Leach and two other potters. We were Tom Fisher raku vase, 17 inches in height; at Urbana (Ohio) having a terrific talk about work, life and the universe in general University Memorial Library. when Leach laughed and said how much he loved the commu­ nity of potters.’ It was a special moment, and a perceptive “For instance, one piece in the ‘Flamekist’ series is reminiscent observation. I have since come to feel that the same sense of a deteriorating hornets’ nest I saw in my woods.” extends beyond such a closely defined group to include the The series was entitled “Flamekist” because he utilizes a 3- community of artists—the whole being greater than the sum of inch-diameter burner to fire his raku kiln, and when he peers its parts. into the kiln to check glaze maturity, “the flames seem to ‘kiss’ “I am lucky in my work not only to make a livelihood, but the pieces.” to also be engaged in a wide range of pursuits from the aesthetic and philosophical to the material and technical. I am defined California Collegiate Ceramic Competition within my community by what I do and it provides me with a The “California Collegiate Ceramic Competition” was pre­ base from which I can view and react to the world. It is both a sented recently at Riverside Community College and at San challenging and rewarding existence.” Diego State University. Jurors Patrick Crabb, Tustin, California, Tom Fisher “Flamekist ’94,” an exhibition of 25 raku-fired vessels by Tom Fisher, was featured at Urbana (Ohio) University’s Memorial Library Gallery through January 31. Though he previously concentrated on producing functional stoneware, Fisher has become “totally consumed by raku.” He finds the process rewarding, both emotionally and financially. “The unpredictable and repeatable combine to form works of art that are definitely one-of-a-kind,” he commented. “Personally, my functional pieces seemed to be gravitating toward confinement of creativity. With raku, I find total free­ dom, hindered only by the most elementary basics of aesthetics and structures.” Fisher recently moved into a new 800-square-foot studio

(with kiln room attached and concrete raku pad outside) at his Chris Relyea’s award-winning “Molded T-pot,” 10 inches in home on 16 acres in rural Ohio, just 30 minutes northwest of width, basalt clay; at Riverside Community College and San his main market in Columbus. “I share the property with three Diego State University.

24 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 25 Up Front and Christine Federighi, Coral Gables, Florida, selected 40 works from 141 entries. Open exclusively to college students, the exhibition demon­ strated the diversity of styles and techniques explored by todays ceramics students, who are making everything from sculpture and modified vessels to traditional forms, from raku to high- fired porcelain. William C. Davis “Homage to the Guardian of the West,” an exhibition of 55 kiln- and pit-fired bears by William C. Davis, was on view recently at Ten Directions Gallery in Baywood Park, California. Davis, a retired professor of ceramics and glass at California

Monique Duplain-Juillerat salt-glazed lidded jar, approxi­ mately 6 inches in height; at Loes & Reinier (formerly Kunst & Keramiek), Deventer, Netherlands.

Denmark, Jane Hamlyn and Peter Meanley from Great Britain, Janet Mansfield from Australia, Joel Nugier from France, and Paulien Ploeger from the Netherlands. Rick Dillingham, 1952-1994

William C. Davis’ “Chaco Stars,” 7½ inches in length, cast, Santa Fe ceramist/author Rick Dillingham died on January 22. incised and sandblasted semivitreous earthenware; at Ten Known for his broken and reassembled vessels, Dillingham Directions Gallery in Baywood Park, California. often commented that “one should not be bent on mastering clay, but on cooperating with it to allow for spontaneity.” He State University, Northridge, drew upon his 40 years of experi­ would break his bisqued forms into large fragments, then treat ence as a potter and his lifelong fascination with the rituals, each fragment as a canvas for brushed decoration. After firing myths and religion of Southwest Native Americans to produce (oxidation, raku, sawdust, etc.), the fragments were frequently this series. embellished with gold or silver leaf, then reassembled. One of the six major fetishes revered by the Zuni, the black Also recognized as an authority on current and historical bear is known as the Guardian of the West. Entranced with this pueblo pottery, he wrote two books: Acoma and Laguna Pottery concept, Davis decided to use it as a metaphor. His clay bears, and 14 Families in Pueblo Pottery; the latter is an updated which measure about 8 inches each in length, were cast from version of his catalog/bookSeven Families in Pueblo Pottery, and several similar molds, then approached as a three-dimensional is soon to be released by the University of New Mexico Press. surface upon which he could draw personal symbols and images. Some were also carved to emphasize line and create depth. Various types of clays were used to take advantage of their different responses to the firing process. Some works were pit fired at the beach, utilizing whatever fuel nature provided. Contemporary Salt Glazers Whether it is used sparsely or thrown into the hot kiln by handfuls, glazing with salt requires intense involvement in the firing process. In fact, it’s that sense of adventure, together with the results achieved when sodium vapors combine with silica in the clay body, that many contemporary salt glazers find so appealing. The results of salt-glazing “adventures” by seven international potters were on view recently at Loes & Reinier in Deventer, Netherlands. Included were functional and decorative vessels by Monique Duplain-Juillerat from France, Bente Hansen from Rick Dillingham, circa 1987.

26 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 27 it, these ideas arrive as modified, intuitive teapot, I’m inviting myself to the tea party. Video glimpses of what a pot can be. Ideas, intuitionI’m offering another idea without being there and application can all contribute to innova­in person.” 55 minutes. Available as VHS Making Marks tion—sometimes with success, sometimes videocassette. $35, plus $4 shipping.Marvin Ceramic Surface Decoration with Robin with failure. And failures examining some Bartel, 1708 Lincolnway East, Goshen, Indi­ Hopper new tomorrow often lead to success. ana 46526; (219) 535-7592. “So expressing your own personality Professionally produced and nicely paced, Gifts from the Fire this series of six videos focuses on “how bestthrough your ceramic surfaces is both very to create surfaces that develop and sustain a simple and very difficult. It doesn’t happen The Ceramic Art of Brother Thomas ceramic form. We have to be really concernedunless you’re willing to experiment, to play a Produced for a general audience, this video that the decoration that we’re putting onto little and to take some risk. I continually tells the story of Pennsylvania potter Brother that surface more than helps the shape of theremind students to master basic skills and Thomas Bezanson, a Benedictine monk. In­ piece,” Canadian potter/teacher/author develop a technical repertoire. Then I tell tertwined with personal recollections tracing Robin Hopper explains. “It’s quite possible them to try something different, to break the the development of his potting career are to destroy the shape of a good piece by rules, to break from tradition.” Approxi­ glimpses of Thomas at work (wedging, insufficient or inadequate decoration.” mately 30 minutes each. Available as VHS throwing, spray glazing, reduction firing, etc.) On Tape 1, Hopper demonstrates surface videocassettes. $29.95 ($59.95 for institu­ and comments by appreciative collectors. removal processes: slashing, scratching, incis­tions) per video; or $149.95 ($299.95 for “My work is not completed until it’s ing, carving and fluting; sgraffito through institutions) for the series. Add $4.50 ship­ shared with others,” Thomas remarks. “I’m brushed slip; and developing low relief by ping and handling for one tape; $.50 for eachlike a messenger. The message is not for the applying hot wax patterns, then sponging additional tape. Tara Productions, 4922North­ messenger. My work has to go out to others. away the exposed background. east Going, Portland, Oregon 97218. That’s its commission—to go forth, to bring Tape 2 introduces methods of decorating something to other people.” 29 minutes. by addition (slip-dipped fabric and paper The Way Pots Pour Available as VHS videocassette. $19.95, plus appliques, handbuilt and sprigged attach­ With Marvin Bartel shipping and handling. artsAmerica, Inc., 9 ments) and impression (with a rolling pin At some point in their careers, all potters Benedict Place, Greenwich, Connecticut06830; and various kinds of stamps). have produced teapots or pitchers that fail to(800)553-5278. Tape 3 shows the many ways of working pour properly. Sometimes the cause is readily with colored clays, whether as liquid slip apparent (e.g., glaze-clogged strainer holes), Craft-Making for Profit (inlaid, brushed, trailed, combed, feathered, but other times it’s not easy to see why one 12 Steps to Success dotted, marbled or mocha diffusion) or plas­spout pours erratically or dribbles, while a Though awWardly filmed and some­ tic clay (laminated slab work or thrown and similar one doesn’t. In this video, Indiana what tedious, this marketing video could faceted/fluted). potter/teacher Marvin Bartel pours liquids prove helpful to potters thinking about or Because Tape 4 is on pigment and resist from several “bad” examples, then demon­ j ust beginning to sell through craft fairs. Most techniques, Hopper takes a few minutes to strates what can be done to overcome designof the practical advice comes from interviews discuss brushes, and recommends that pot­ deficiencies. The video also features brief with a craft show organizer and four profes­ ters take some time to experiment with vari­physics lessons on the dynamics of flowing sional craftspeople (with varying degrees of ous shapes. He then explains the drawing liquids. experience). No potters are interviewed, but attributes of ceramic pencils, chalks, “water- Bartel wants spouted vessels, in addition the sales tactics discussed are intended to help colors” and “inks.” Other images are pro­ to pouring well, “to have meaning and ex­ “everyone who has an idea or product that has duced with sponge stamps; wax, tape and pressive quality. Actually, I can use the func­profit potential.” paper resists; and majolica brushwork. tion of the piece to confront the user,” he says. In addition to describing their own busi­ Tape 5 covers mixing and applying glazes“The function can push the user to come to nesses, the interviewees elaborate on the prom­ (brushing, dipping, pouring and spraying). terms with the way it works. In coming to ised “12 steps to success”: 1) Enjoy what Tape 6 concludes the series with a look at terms with the way a piece works, the user you’re doing. 2) Develqp a product that is various types of firing (from low-fire primi­ may also stop to consider other, more subtle unique, original and of high quality. 3) Con­ tive to high-fire reduction). qualities that the work contributes to their duct your own market research; listen and These processes (as demonstrated or illus­experience. observe. 4) Know your market. Where should trated through examples by potters from “I’ve missed the mark if my work only you sell your product and who will buy it? 5) around the world) offer “a considerable rep­ functions well without functioning differ­ Accommodate your customers. 6) Price your ertoire from which a potter can choose; how­ently. I’ve not achieved my goal as an artist productif to sell and make a profit. 7) Research ever, repertoire alone doesn’t guarantee the the work is utilitarian but doesn’t do any­ the craft shows you want to attend. 8) Market development of personal style,” says Hopper.thing new. Pottery does things; sculpture andyourself. 9) Be professional. Always treat your Individual expression involves a lot of painting usually merely say things. Pottery is craft as a business if you are in it for profit. 10) time and hard work, he warns. “In one sense like a verb; it does something. Sculpture sits Be prepared for obstacles. 11) Continue to it is simple. The more one is driven to searchthere kind of like a noun. learn and become lmowledgeable in your for new expression, the more one finds. De­ “The way pottery functions is an impor­ field. 12) Set goals and develop a business veloping observation skills certainly helps totant aspect of its meaning. I want to force theplan. 90 minutes. Available as VHS videocas- generate new ideas. I look at pots whenever userI to consider the piece not because of a sette, with accompanying resource guide list­ can—in exhibitions, workshops, museums mistake that I made, but because of an idea ing craft service organizations, plus relevant and libraries... .1 also find ideas in the universethat I may have contributed. I don’t want to publications and books. $39.95.FotoVideo of colors, textures and forms that surround disrupt the tea party, but I do want to partici­Creations, 21838 Van Bom, Dearborn Heights, me each day. Later, often when I least expectpate actively. As the artist who made the Michigan 48125; (800) 884-3362.

28 CERAMICS MONTHLY

Sandy Vitarelli A Potter in Maui by Mabel Enkoji

I had dreamed of some­ signs of land, mountain and day going to Maui, more spe­ sea relating to the way land cifically Haiku, Maui. The was used in Hawaii in an­ Hawaiian spelling is Ha Iku, cient times. (Land wasn’t sold, which translates as a sharp but was divided into a pie break in the ocean or land. shape, starting at the moun- Perhaps it relates to the sharp taintop. In this way, each vil­ valleys and hills there. An­ lage and individual had access other translation of Haiku is to land, mountain and sea the Japanese verse form, usu­ for producing and gathering ally on some subject in na­ food. Land ownership was an ture. Haiku, Maui, is just unlcnown concept until the that—a beautiful verse sur­ overthrow of the Hawaiian rounded by an idyllic tropi­ monarchy in 1893.) cal setting. Vitarelli produced five While there visiting a pots decorated with ocean friend, I made a point of in­ animals, five with land plants troducing myself to Sandy and five with mountain Vitarelli, a potter whose work plants and animals. The clay had left a lasting impression body used to make these pots on me. My visit to her studio was a mixture of Mason and began in a typically gracious Columbia fireclay mixed in Hawaiian manner, with fresh equal proportions by volume, papaya served in one of her with 10% Custer feldspar by bowls. As we talked, I en­ weight. Sgraffito designs were joyed the trade winds, the excised from a layer of man­ view of the lush green veg­ ganese and Albany or local etation and the scent of earth slip. flowers. The base for each of these Along the wall were shelves large pots was thrown from of pots—some bisqued, some 60 pounds of clay; Vitarelli glazed. In another part of the then threw a 60-pound sec­ studio, on the floor, were tion on a second wheel, add­ some very large pots. Vitarelli ing that onto the first section. told me they were the result The process was continued of a proposal submitted to until the pot reached the de­ the states commission on sired height. culture and the arts, and that About a year was required they were to be installed in to finish the project—at the Working with 60 pounds of clay, Maui potter Sandy rate of 2 pots a month for a the new Honolulu police Vitarelli throws the base of 1 of 15 large-scale vases building. Part of the func­ commissioned for a Honolulu police station. total (after rejecting 9) of 15 tion of this commission is to completed pots. Each was obtain artworks for public buildings to was the only potter whose project was fired to Cone 9 in a custom-built, 100- fulfill Hawaii’s 1%-for-art law. accepted. She had proposed making 15 cubic-foot, oil-burning car kiln. Many other artists received commis­ wheel-thrown pots, measuring 4 feet Born in Pennsylvania, Sandy Vitarelli sions for the police building, but Vitarelli tall and 2½ feet wide, with etched de­ moved to Palau, Micronesia, at age 10.

30 CERAMICS MONTHLY When she was 14 years old, she re­ Babeldaub. A favorite field trip was to turned to Pennsylvania to attend high go there to gather bricks and dig clay. school. There she took her first pottery Leaving early in the morning, classes. “I was instantly involved with Vitarelli and 30 to 50 students would clay to the point of dreams, and wanted board a diesel-powered boat to cross the many extra hours in pottery.” open ocean (which would take about After high school, Vitarelli married, four hours). When they arrived at the started a family, then moved back to river mouth, everyone would look for Micronesia in 1966. “Palau is a won­ crocodiles; if they didn’t see any close derful place to live and raise a family,” by, they would dive into the river for a she said. “Palaun people are warm and swim. (Like most wild animals, Vitarelli full of fun. The weather is hot and the said, crocodiles are afraid of large groups lagoons are calm.” of people.) After the students were re­ As soon as possible, she started look­ Tracks lead to Vitarelli’s oil-fired car kiln, freshed from their swim, they would ing for clay, built a wheel and a small where the 15 large pots were fired to walk a mile up a slippery path to the kiln. “The first clay I used—a red earth­ Cone 9. site where salt-glazed roofing tiles and enware—was dug near my home and bricks had once been made. Everyone fired in a small electric kiln. I made my brought a sack lunch, as well as baskets own grog, which was needed to keep or bags to carry back clay or bricks. the pots from cracking. The grog was One student stayed at the boat to very rough, so the pots were rough to record each persons bricks as they were touch, but very beautiful to me. brought aboard and stacked. Often “I kept looking for better clays and teams were formed to get some rivalry asked elder Palaun ladies (who, in their going, and the winning team would get youth, had been involved in making $20—about one weeks salary in those pottery) where I could find the clay Sixty-pound wall sections (thrown days. All such field trips were funded by deposits that they once used. I tried on a second wheel) were stacked and the student/teacher pottery sales. many, but they were pretty bad in most joined to reach the desired height. In 1977, Vitarelli decided to leave cases, or located too far from my home. Micronesia for Hawaii. By this time, After many tries, I found clays that she was a single mother with six chil­ worked well together. One, a gray stone­ dren (four of her own and two adopted). ware, was within driving distance. The Since she had to be self-supporting, she other part of the body, a whitish kaolin- decided the best thing to do was to set type clay, was up a river; it took five up a pottery studio, make and sell pots, hours to get there by boat. Mixed to­ and still be home for the children. Her gether with 15% grog, these clays fired father helped design and build the stu­ to Cone 7.” dio. By then, her boys were 12 to 18 For 12 years, Vitarelli was a full-time Background areas and details were years old, and they helped every day ceramics teacher at the local high school, excised from a layer of manganese and Albany or local earth slip. after school. reintroducing pottery techniques that Her first kiln was a 40-cubic-foot had been forgotten for many years. The Vitarelli dug and processed clay, and salt kiln, built with waste bricks from Palaun people had stopped making pots built all the wheels and kilns, including the local sugar mills. She now has three because they felt theirs were inferior to one 60-cubic-foot, oil-fired design; one kilns—a 60-cubic-foot, oil-with-wood- the whiteware and porcelain that the 30-cubic-foot salt kiln; and a small raku fired salt kiln; a 50-cubic-foot, wood- Japanese had brought in. kiln. The refractories came from an old fired kiln; and a 100-cubic-foot, oil-fired Together with her pottery students, Japanese salt-kiln site on the island of car kiln. All were custom built by

March 1994 31 Vitarelli and Washington potter Steve to use them over slips. Her favorites are Runny Ash Glaze Moore. Sandy met Steve in Palau when a light green banana ash glaze and a (Cone 8-10, reduction) he was a Peace Corps volunteer. dark brown eucalyptus ash glaze. Other Ash (washed and dried)...... 34.54% People seem to respond best to Vita­ variations are: dark celadon from guava Magnesium Carbonate...... 1.82 relli s pots with sgraffito decoration, but ash; light brown-green from sugar cane Talc ...... 11.82 she likes making salt-glazed pots just for ash; light blue-white from wild hibiscus Whiting...... 16.37 their texture and color. She also has ash; yellow-brown from mango ash; Custer Feldspar...... 18.18 experimented with ash glazes and likes green-white from palm ash. Bentonite...... 9.09 Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 8.18 100.00% Vitarelli applies ash glazes to leather- hard clay that has been brushed with the following slips (which are also used in salt glazing): Blue Slip Custer Feldspar...... 15.0% Kaolin...... 60.0 Kentucky Ball Clay...... 10.0 Flint ...... 15.0 100.0% Add: Cobalt...... 2.5% For a dark blue, use cobalt oxide; for a lighter blue, use cobalt carbonate. Earth Slip Colemanite...... 10% Local Earth...... 90 100% The local earth is iron rich; it is dried, crushed, then screened for use. Black Slip Albany Slip...... 90% Manganese Dioxide...... 10 100% “Lauhala,” 17 inches in height, wheel-thrown stoneware, with sgraffito decoration through local earth slip, “After 26 years, I am still very ex­ by Sandy Vitarelli, Haiku, Maui, Hawaii. cited about making pots,” Vitarelli says. “Probably now, I enjoy it more than ever. The more I work, the more ideas I have and its very hard to stop to do other necessary things—like swimming (to correct a work-related back prob­ lem), gardening, housework, cooking. I feel very lucky to be able to continue earning my living as a potter.” ▲

32 CERAMICS MONTHLY Coille McLaughlin Hooven

A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio by Karen Greene 34

PHOTOS: CHARLES FRIZZELL, SIBILA SAVAGE porcelain shirt porcelain Portfolio cover: Slab-built cover: Portfolio height, with cobalt brushwork cobalt with height, on clear glaze, 1984. glaze, clear on Coille McLaughlin Hooven. McLaughlin Coille , 14 inches in inches 14

your soul.” n rit Erig lvn dig awr cn utr your nurture can daywork doing living a Earning artist. an of someonewho’sbeentoldthatitisoncetoooften. Coille story a with each sculptures,” ceramist “narrative porcelain white and Berkeley sunlight with filled is room dining says Her Hooven. McLaughlin development,” artistic “You don’thavetoateachingjobsupportyourlifeas where shestudiedwithDavidShaner,Hooventaughtceram­ fairly was got ofthetimes:“So,”hesaidtoher,“You’regoingsell typical she reaction the enterprise, money-making art an told a into ceramics in work her turning she for plans her of collector when But California. to moved children, young two her for responsibility sole bearing and divorced “Business is not a dirty word,” she says, with the conviction the with says, business. she word,” dirty about a not is talking “Business she’s moment, the for But tell. to itra hm ad ep te ogivle bomn on blooming bougainvillea the keeps and home Victorian her on mortgage the pays still she But Canada. in workshop complete with department ceramics a develop to able was businesses, ornament and a pottery lucrative establishing between by balance Berkeley in house a for paid and college oe i. fe gautn fo te nvriy f Illinois of University the from graduating After it. loves n hr cltr ta rfet a oe esnl iin of vision personal more fantasy andhumaninterplay. a reflects that sculpture her and ics for seven years at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Art of College Institute Maryland the at years seven for ics compromise ononelevel—frombeingafreespirit.” does world” the “real of the demands to responding that sure not have to mean compromising your art. “Of course it’s a it’s course “Of art. your compromising mean to have not her backyard studio with money she earns from her porcelain her from earns she money with studio backyard her to business.” thereweren’t “But she says. for me,” still is and it to be, place the was Area Bay the clay, in working were you “If live. to convinced herthatNorthernCaliforniawaswhereshewanted for Education on Council National the to trip a But facilities. Hooven out. inside the from school the rebuilding was dent sculpture, dinnerware andornaments. taught asemesteratSanFrancisco StateUniversityandgavea turned I So employed. us of all keep to jobs teaching enough 1969 in Oakland in conference (NCECA) Arts Ceramic the presi­ the because be to place exciting an was It Baltimore. After 10 solo shows and over 100 group shows, Hooven’s shows, group 100 over and shows solo 10 After Twenty years ago, it was a struggle when Hooven, newly Hooven, when struggle a was it ago, years Twenty These days, Hooven does teach on occasion; she recently she occasion; on teach does Hooven days, These she fact, In teaching. against anything has she that not It’s through children her both put She soul. her sell didn’t She A Ceramics MonthlyPortfolio 3 Museum of Art since 1991. since Art of Museum ovn o te Metropolitan the for Hooven nlzd ocli ornament, porcelain Unglazed V 2 inches high, produced by produced high, inches

“The Western Artist, ”15 inches wide, handbuiltporcelain, with clear glaze and cob alt!manganese stain, 1984.

“You dont have to have a teaching job to support your life as an artist. ”

“Shoe-boat, ”11 inches long, clear-glazed porcelain, accented with cob alt!manganese brushwork, 1989.

35 “Slipper, ”10 inches in lengthCone, 10 porcelain, wz/VA clear glaze and cob alt!manganese stain.

Majolica dinnerware designed by Hooven in 1991 for production at the Grazia Factory in Deruta, Italy.

36 A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio It s the class issues that revolve around earning a living that disturb her: artists aren’t supposed to “work,” but teaching is okay. “Theres a snobbism around. If you’re an artist, you teach, and I really don’t like that,” she says. “For me, it’s really important to make a living with my daywork, and I feel good about having done that, about doing that.” The defense of commercial enterprise comes with a warn­ ing: “Building the business took two years of my life,” Hooven explains, “and I had to make conscious choices along the way to limit its growth.” In 1979, she took porcelain ornaments to the Wholesale Gift Market on Fifth Avenue in New York. She explored ten Ornaments are cut like cookies floors of showrooms, then chose five that she thought could from thinly rolled slabs. best represent her work. The first one she approached, N. S. Gustin Company (showrooms in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chi­ cago and New York), agreed to handle her ornaments. She also hired a high-level marketing consultant she couldn’t afford and credits him with teaching her about “real-world” standards. He taught her about image, packaging, sales ap­ proach, pricing and the realities of sales perseverance. Soon she had two full-time assistants doing production for her, and she’d distilled the process down to a 17-step routine— from rolling the porcelain out on a slab roller to packing the finished pieces and shipping them out. All the while, she’d been doing functional pottery, holding one or two studio sales a year. One day, exhilarated by the success of the ornaments, she found herself sitting at her Bougainvillea covers the studio dining-room table with five Chinese businessmen, negotiat­ behind her house in Berkeley. ing a deal to manufacture her dinnerware designs in China (for sale in the United States). Fortunately, Hooven says, she realized she was concentrat­ ing her energy in the wrong place. Building this second business venture would take another two to four years of her life. “I want to have as few regrets as possible. I evaluate periodically and try to be willing to risk shifting gears. It’s very hard to change a pattern once it becomes comfortable.” Shifting gears for her meant dropping the China idea altogether, letting her assistants go, and dedicating the next eight months to art and to the development of a new synthe­ sis of art and economics. Over the years, Hooven has adjusted production to meet her financial goals; the kids are out of college now, alleviating some pressure. She has the security of knowing the ornament business can be as big as she needs it to be, but currendy has

37 only one account—the Metropolitan Museum of Art cata­ log. If she needs capital, shell do a mailing for a studio pottery sale. “The studio atmosphere—dry, wet, hot, cold, sunny or overcast—is incredibly important when working with porce­ lain, because it dries so quickly,” Hooven notes. “This is especially true if one is working with thin slabs. Because of its 20% shrinkage rate, cracking during drying is a problem. While it is relatively easy to roll out a big, thin slab of medium-wet porcelain, forming the piece requires a lot of attention to the drying process.” Assorted brushes and Dried ornaments waiting to Most of her work is placed on open racks to dry evenly on be bisque fired. underglaze pencils are used to all sides. Once dried and bisqued, the work is dipped in the decorate sculpture and following glaze: dinnerware. Clear Glaze (Cone 10) Whiting...... 9 % Zinc Oxide...... 7 Cornwall Stone...... 79 Edgar Plastic Kaolin...... 5. 100 %

Macy’s in San Francisco marketed Hoovens work together with their traditional tableware.

38 A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio Though asked only to look at ornaments, a Macy’s buyer spotted dinnerware in Hooven s portfolio and arranged this display.

She then decorates with a cobalt and manganese mixture (1 tablespoon of cobalt carbonate with 1 teaspoon of manga­ nese dioxide) brushed on top. The amount of water varies with the degree of blue she wishes to achieve. Usually she has four different strengths of blue to select from. Though she has sold through major outlets, Hooven likes to keep dinnerware production scaled down and her atten­ tion focused on her sculpture. “I don’t wholesale pottery now because I don’t need to. I’ve developed a terrific mailing list of people who come and gobble it up. It’s really fun because I get the direct appreciation. I don’t send it off to a store where they get to meet the people who buy it. It’s very satisfying to hear people say T love your work. I use it every day.’” Eventually, Hooven recognized that her adventures in the porcelain dinnerware and ornament business contributed to the development of her art. She learned to work with very thin porcelain slabs and, because her “job” was in her studio, she established a regular work rhythm. “The pottery is pure pleasure for me. It’s a simple, satisfying expression, not stress­ ful, only physically demanding—a skill I have that brings pleasure to others too.

39 The Politician, ”10 inches wide, porcelain, clear glaze and cobalt!manganese stain, to Cone 10 in oxidation, 1984, by Coille McLaughlin Hooven, Berkeley.

“I cant do the stuff that comes from down deep all of the time,” she points out. But its clear that for Hooven, that’s the “stuff” that counts. She likens her sculpture to dream interpretations. “It is both literal and symbolic, intended to evoke a feeling that lingers. The shoe is a shoe, but it is also an animal, a vehicle and a stage for the play within. “I don’t work from a preconceived idea or sketch. I work direcdy from my unconscious, and I’m often surprised by what emerges. I use my work as a window to my inner self. “The scale is small and delicate, inviting you to view it. The subjects range from tender, playful and sometimes sur­ real expression to a vulnerable narrative of womens issues. I use the common handmade household item (shirt, shoe, pillow, pie, for example) as reference and ground. The story or interplay is often about family and relationship.” For Coille McLaughlin Hooven, the business of art re­ mains an artful balance, between a passionate commitment to sculpture, a flare for finance and a very physical dedication to the potters craft. A

40 A Ceramics Monthly Portfolio Sadashi Inuzuka earned ceramics degrees at Emily Carr College of Art in British Columbia and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan before establishing a studio in Toronto.

The sunlight picks out the textures of Struggling with the English language the George R. Gardiner Museum of the gardens at Shorenin Temple, the was painful, but otherwise he flourished Ceramic Art in Toronto, once hired faded pigment curls off the tiles and at the art school. It appeared Inuzuka Inuzuka to demonstrate clay-building moss grows in the humid shadows. had made the right choice. Encouraged techniques to visitors. She remembers Transported by the projected slide, by the support of instructors and col­ him as “a person of integrity and tal­ Sadashi Inuzuka declares with admira­ leagues, and success in the clay studio, ent—but even at the beginning, he also tion, “Look how beautiful nature has he went on to earn an M.F.A. at understood how good you really have made this place.” The majestic temples Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michi­ to be in order to succeed. Inuzuka un­ and silent sand gardens of Kyoto were gan. With characteristically overstated derstands the big picture.” his childhood playground. modesty, Inuzuka recalls, “Before, people While studying in the United States, Studying the textures, proportions told me £Oh you’re so talented!’ and Inuzuka worked with Jun Kaneko, an­ and knobby details of Inuzukas large- when I got to Cranbrook I discovered I other Japanese-American ceramist noted scale sculpture, one can see the echoes wasn’t talented at all!” for his monumental sculpture. Brightly of the tiles, bolts and beams of Japans Probably closer to the truth is that, colored and boldly striped or dotted, classical architecture and gardens. But while he may have been in the cream of Kaneko’s “dango” (Japanese for steamed the irony is that, in order to become a the undergraduate crop, the competi­ dumpling) forms weigh in the tons. sculptor and make such work, Inuzuka tion he faced at the graduate level was There is, at first glance, a similarity to had to leave Japan. considerably tougher. At the time, it Inuzukas own two-story-high construc­ Twelve years ago, bucking parental was bitter medicine, but the long-term tions, and he admits to being called “a disapproval and Japans one-career-for- results were salutary. little Jun” in his student days. a-lifetime social norm, Inuzuka decided Today, watchers of Inuzukas career Reportedly, the demanding Kaneko to quit his career as a photographer. In credit his growing international reputa­ added to the stress Inuzuka felt in the short order, he enrolled as an under­ tion to major solo shows, together with pressure cooker of graduate school. graduate at the Emily Carr College of his ability to assess the competitive en­ Watching himself and fellow students Art, immigrating to the scenic west coast vironment of the professional art world. wrestling with self-doubt, Inuzuka be­ of Canadas British Columbia. Sue Jeffries, head of programming at came acutely aware of the emotional

March 1994 41 and psychological depth of humans. Pre­ invisible; you don’t notice me like you to have a real appetite for the large scale. viously more interested in external do a flower, but I’m crawling all over “Japan does not encourage individual­ forms, he became preoccupied with in­ the place. I’ll get somewhere because I ism. It’s not surprising that we (in ternal worlds, especially in conveying work hard like an ant.” Canada) get those artists interested in emotional states. Graduating without prospects and the big, bold stuff.” This fascination with feelings and only $ 150 remaining, Inuzuka accepted So what makes Inuzuka different what was inside people, particularly him­ a friend’s offer of a ride to Toronto. from other artists? Kanbara answers self, would become the key to Inuzukas Suitcase in hand, he walked the streets, without hesitation, “I have never seen own distinctive style. While Kaneko’s assessing the city’s potential. He soon anybody work so hard. You notice it sculpture shows an interest in the opti­ decided that he “could do something right away—discipline.” cal play of color and pattern, Inuzukas with this city.” Within a few months, Inuzuka shies away from the com­ work is autobiographical and narrative. he was in a subsidized studio space. Less pliment. “Discipline is a nice word. I’m In his installations, Inuzuka has por­ than five years later, he’d had four solo just hungry. I don’t feel good unless I trayed himself as a bug. Picture a podlike shows in public galleries, participated work. When I was very poor, I learned I beetle the size of an armchair, usually in 17 group exhibitions and was repre­ could work with almost anything. I black and white, and covered in knobby sented by a commercial gallery. didn’t need special equipment. Now it sprouts. “Bug” is often facing some ob­ Bryce Kanbara, curator of the Bur­ is easy when I go to another country stacle, crawling across forests of ceramic lington Cultural Centre and the first and other studios. I get to work fast.” trees or water, attempting to reach some administrator to invite him to do an So far, Inuzuka has participated as a candy-colored flowers or—as in the case installation, feels Inuzuka is not un­ guest artist at the European Ceramics of his Cranbrook graduation show— usual in his ability to focus on opportu­ Work Center in s’Hertogenbosch, Neth­ trying to fly away to a clear blue sky. nity. Many immigrants size up a city, erlands; and at Exterier V, the outdoor He explains why he identifies with regarding it as so much raw material. sculpture symposium in Bratislava, the unlikely choice: “Bugs have a strong Kanbara adds that several Japanese Czech Republic. He has also been at life in them—hard to kill. I am more artists currently working in Canada seem Canada’s Banff Centre for the Arts for

At his studio, Inuzuka uses a canvas sling attached to a chain hoist that slides along a ceiling track so that he can lower large pieces into a top-loading kiln by himself.

Left: While a guest artist at the European Ceramics Work Center in s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, he used a forklift to load the car of a top-hat kiln.

42 CERAMICS MONTHLY Above: Inuzuka pushing a piece from “Bug Dream II” out of his studio; the work was subsequently installed at Columbus Centre in North York, Ontario.

Right: Untitled installation incorporating handbuilt earthenware and stoneware elements, wood and sod at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta.

three terms and won first prize at the nority ethnic backgrounds; they are re­ those four dump trucks of earth ar­ Young Painter’s Symposium in Quebec. luctant to write in English, and feel rived. The center’s administrators also An opportunity to work with Austra­ particularly self-conscious approaching appreciated Inuzukas attention to de­ lian aborigine artists—they felt a kin­ galleries. Inuzuka explains that being tail—such as protecting their concrete ship with Inuzukas patterns—was next different can be to their advantage, at from stains with plastic sheeting. on the list. How does he get so much first, but soon they will be expected to Inuzuka designs his installations on attention? compete on an equal basis. “You’d bet­ a personal computer, using a basic draw­ Inuzuka answers, “I don’t know. Very ter study hard and use a computer with ing program. He says that if he drew in lucky.” a spell checker. No excuses.” the conventional sense, he’d spend all That brings to mind the saying “the Once you get that first show, “you his time erasing. Also, the computer harder I work the luckier I get.” must do a brochure. It’s helped me a permits easy calculations—which is par­ Eavesdropping on Inuzuka giving a lot. Cut back on the wine at the open­ ticularly important if you want to fac­ student workshop proves more fruitful. ing, if you must.” This statement car­ tor in the different viewing angles or If the students don’t ask, he prompts ries more weight when one is aware that keep track of 320 rolls of sod. them: “How are you going to get galler­ this is a man who has limited his ward­ Ideally, Inuzuka would like to try ies?” He advises a no-nonsense package robe to six black T-shirts in order to three-dimensional, computer-assisted of good, clear slides; a simple artist’s own a fax machine. design, but short $8000, he will con­ statement; and not to bother with net­ Inuzukas professionalism extends tentbe­ himself with two dimensions. With working at gallery openings. “You have yond his promotional skills. Working his visual sense developed as a photog­ to know who can help you. on large-scale installations, such as the rapher, “as long as I can see it in a frame, “Don’t try to be smart. Just work ten 100-foot columns at the Mississauga I can imagine the rest.” hard. If one city doesn’t work for you, Civic Centre Art Gallery, requires the Normally, Inuzuka works alone in try another. I changed my country. You coordination of a work team, rented his modestly sized, 800-square-foot stu­ have to keep going.” equipment and expensive materials, and dio. Everything is on wheels or skids so Many of the students are from mi­ planning. He had to be prepared when that at night, when everyone else who

March 1994 43 works on the same floor is gone, “I roll with a clear glaze. Again, the glaze is point out that the textures resemble the my stuff out into the hallway. I add 500 simple: 90% Ferro frit 3493 and 10% raked sand gardens of Zen monks. square feet to my studio this way.” Edgar Plastic Kaolin. “I think if you look at any old cul­ His clay body is a simple mixture, When loading larger pieces into the ture, you will find these patterns,” says equal parts red clay and ball clay with kiln, Inuzuka uses a canvas sling hang­ Inuzuka. This could also explain the an additional 40% grog. This makes it ing from a chain hoist. The hoist is affinity expressed by the aborigine art­ easy for him to adjust to local materials attached to the ceiling on a track so that ists in Australia. Curiously, Inuzuka says wherever he goes. he can slide the piece over to the kiln, that these patterns occur to him just as When working, Inuzuka wants “to then lower it down onto firebricks and he is falling asleep, when daydreaming build as quickly as possible. I do not subsequently remove the canvas from or on all-day-all-night work stints. With want to spoil the passion and rhythm of between the bricks. exhaustion comes inspiration. my idea. Large vessel forms are thrown Firing takes place between Cone 1 But why commit these forms and on the potters wheel or handbuilt up­ and Cone 6 in oxidation; Inuzuka is patterns to such back-breaking scale? side down. By building upside down, I “more careful when the kiln is cooling Inuzukas reasons are more personal than can use the force of gravity to my ad­ down than firing. I think most cracks aesthetic. Throwing himself into mak­ vantage, rather than work against it.” occur at this stage. When the kiln is ing large-scale work provides a kind of Despite their size, he flips the leather- cooling too fast, I often use counterfir­ release. He acknowledges its partly com­ hard forms over by himself. “I build ing to slow it down.” pensation for his “wimpy kid” child­ two makeshift steps at 90° angles. This The patterns that characterize Inu­ hood and pardy due to his acute myopia. allows the vessel to fall gently, almost by zukas columns, pods and vessels are While ferrying one of his large ves­ itself, right side up onto the second variations on basic stripes, undulating sels around the studio on a wheeled step. Of course, the second step is on lines and dots. Self-confessed as “not a pallet, he looks up and concludes, coasters so I can wheel the vessel to color person,” he uses pattern to accen­ “Sometimes I want to scream T am wherever I need it. I can flip 200-300 tuate texture and form. One vessel, a here’; when I work big, I am free.” pounds all by myself.” whopping 300 pounds, has a pitted sur­ Most of his work is slip decorated, face reminiscent of a strawberry; others The author Arts journalist/curator Gloria though some forms are also surfaced bear ridges like gourds. Viewers often Hickey resides in Toronto.

Detail of “Bug Dream,” a 24x36-foot installation at Burlington Cultural Centre in Burlington, Ontario.

44 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Hana,” a series of slip-decorated columns at Mississauga around the columns. To protect the concrete from stains, Civic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, by Sadashi Inuzuka. Inuzuka had positioned the columns over squares of plastic Installation required four dump-truck loads of soil, which was sheeting. Once the soil had been evenly distributed within the subsequently shoveled into wheelbarrows for distribution wooden framework, sod was laid and watered.

March 1994 45 A Reflection of Environment by Jolyon Hofsted

Working in my studio on large, utilitar­ chuckle over that one. Yes, environment made large, reduction-fired work, keep­ ian forms again is giving me a chance to reflects on ones work and life. ing the rats at bay with a baseball bat, reflect on the past 30 years. I remember I had been a production potter. Once and fire and building inspectors paid once, a long time back, a budding pot- I got to the point where I could do it off with pots. Times changed. My envi­ ter-to-be asked me what being a pro­ well, then fast, I got restless. Of course, ronment changed as well—this time to duction potter was like. “Damp and this didn’t happen overnight. Next came a small studio with limited shelving and lonely,” I told him. He had asked me larger pots, then sculpture. an electric kiln. I had never used electric when I was in the wrong frame of mind, In the late 1960s, I had a big studio firing much before. but today, while working the clay as equipped with a large gas kiln in what is The mid-to-late 1970s marked a pe­ country music plays on the radio, I now New York City’s SoHo district. I riod of low-temperature glazes on

Stoneware vase, approximately 27 inches in height, wheel thrown and slab built, with Cone 9 reduction glazes, 1965.

46 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Man with Gun,” 30 inches in height, slip-cast and assembled whiteware with low-fire glazes and lusters, and cast bronze umbrella, 1991.

“Monuments, Tombstones and Tro­ what I called the “Table Service”—two phies.” They all fit on the available shelf levels, supported with thrown columns, space—something pointed out to me and cast figure forms. Once again, a much later. fellow making a video of the work In the 1980s, I was not exactly rich pointed out the “coincidence.” and famous, but doing well enough to By the late 1980s I had moved again, build a nice house and studio in the still in the country, but to a better house, country. Again my work changed with better studio. I had a grant to support the environment. I began a series of research and development of sculpture mobile landscapes and landscape forms. slip cast in plaster molds made of the Lots of glass, decks and views of moun­ strange, eclectic objects I had gathered. tains may have played a part in that. The Cone 04 clay, my electric kiln and At one point in the early ’80s, I also an open-ended budget for materials led had a grant to work at Clay Works in to a fun, humorous body of work that New York City; I lived in an upstairs went on until fairly recently when an­ loft and worked downstairs in a space other change took place. New York ceramist Jolyon Hofsted has full of columns. I went there with pre­ found renewed energy in testing his Queens College, where I have been conceived ideas, but ended up making wheel-throwing skills. teaching “forever” now, has a new art

March 1994 47 building and a well-equipped ceramics in a more humorous vein for a number were dry, I made the lids by eye, calcu­ facility. After all these years, I again have of years, it feels good to throw big pots lating shrinkage without measuring. I two large gas kilns at my disposal. It was once more. This is definitely due to a did the same thing with another series, almost like coming out of reduction change in environment, and this time I but that time I bisqued the jars, changed withdrawal; I couldn’t wait to put some realize it. to a different clay body with different pots in the new kilns. I enjoy all the I can’t get enough of getting down shrinkage, did some calculations, then flames, colors and excitement of reduc­ and dirty—from throwing small tea- made lids by eye again. Okay, I blew a tion. I even turn off all the lights and bowls to pushing around 50-pound couple that time. marvel at it. I had really missed it. pots—though I had forgotten how Crazy, yes. Cocky, yes. But try it. So now I’m working on utilitarian much I dislike trimming. I have even Testing your skills is fun and keeps you forms, big and small, subtly pushed, been playing games to test my skills. I on your toes. And the renewed energy bumped or bruised to obtain a soft recendy threw a couple dozen 50-pound is as effective as a change in environ­ fluidity. After having produced daywork covered pots without lids. When they ment in revitalizing one’s work. A

“Tricycle with Lady,” 4 feet in length, multifired earthenware with urethane foam and found objects, 1976, by Jolyon Hofsted, Shady, New York.

48 CERAMICS MONTHLY Meditations on the Garden Pot by Suzanne Staubach

“Make the sides straight,” our teacher themselves when the interior is glazed, A few days ago, I went to a friends said as we stood around her in a circle, stunting the plant growth. house for a lunch of fresh tomatoes and each of us dressed in clay-caked jeans A healthy plant growing in a pot warm rye bread, and as I approached and spattered, oversized shirts. “Always with a rounded belly and constricted her 18th-century Cape Cod, I was en­ make the top wider than the base,” she neck might look elegant, she told us chanted by the shiny bean pots over­ spoke slowly, for emphasis. She was talk­ unequivocally, but once it has grown flowing with nasturtiums that she had ing about flowerpots or “planters,” as enough to require larger quarters, it will set on the stone wall near her front gate. we called them then. Her strictures, be next to impossible to remove with­ How lovely the runny molasses-brown based on the classic notion that form out chopping or breaking the roots, or, of the pots looked with the bright green follows function, allowed no room for in a moment of desperation, smashing leaves and orange flowers of the nastur­ deviation. the pot! In those early potting days, tiums. “Oh, there are tiny cracks,” she Since then, I have become a passion­ cutting a drainage hole in a leather-hard laughed when I asked her about drain­ ate gardener, as well as a potter, and my pot had been almost painful, so the idea age. “The pots are very old, and I left thoughts on flowerpots have grown of deliberately smashing a completed them outdoors by mistake last winter.” more complex. With a large balcony to and fired pot in order to remove the Freezing temperatures are anathema clothe in greenery, and 2½ acres de­ plant was beyond contemplation. Just to most pots. There are those who claim voted to meadows, garden pots have the threat of some future customer be­ to make frost-proof pots, and I have become an important part seen ads for them in some of my planting schemes and I remembered the... rules she imparted so many of the upscale gardeners’ throwing schedule. catalogs, but wherever tem­ Flowerpots offer flexi­ years ago: straight sides, mouth wider than the base, peratures fluctuate, dipping bility and versatility. With a drainage hole, and never glaze the interior of the pot.well below zero, then rising flowerpots, one can enjoy to the thirties and back the sorts of plants that won t down again, there is no such grow in certain areas; for instance, a ing tempted to commit such an act was thing as frost proof. Empty pots, left moisture-loving iris in an otherwise enough to convince each of us of the outdoors, preferably turned upside dryish backyard or a yucca in a boggy value of making our planter mouths down, will survive quite nicely, but pots front garden. Also, one can change color wider than their bases. left planted, whether high- or low-fired, schemes to suit the mood or the season, Size too is an important consider­ will usually crack. The freezing earth bringing out pots of pink tulips in spring ation. Certainly, a pot shouldn’t be so and roots expand and contract, pressur­ and blue hydrangeas in summer. large that it will take years for the roots ing the sides or bottoms of pots. Earth­ I was thinking about my pottery to fill it, but the larger the pot, the less enware, though often preferred by teacher as I deadheaded the scented pel­ frequently the plant will need to be gardeners for its ability to breathe, is argoniums in a cluster of pots near the watered. Soil dries out faster in a pot even more susceptible; porous ware ab­ stairs, then carried one of them down than it does in the ground, since air sorbs moisture, which then expands to a gap in the border that needed filling. circulates all around, and the sun can when the temperature drops below freez­ As I stood back to admire the effect of beat down on it from all sides. With my ing, often causing pots to spall even if the pot in the garden, I remembered very sunny deck and southern expo­ left empty. the time-honored horticultural potting sure, I have learned to use the largest Potters have been making flower­ rules she imparted so many years ago: sized containers that I, with my 20- pots—and gardeners have been plant­ straight sides, mouth wider than the year-old kick wheel, can manage. I have ing in them—for thousands of years. base, a drainage hole, and never glaze learned, too, that under these harsh con­ Indeed, in many parts of the world and the interior of the pot. Excellent criteria ditions, sometimes double potting is throughout history, farming and pot­ not only for maldng a pot, but for a best. By double potting, I mean plant­ ting are the seasonal halves of a family’s nonpotter choosing a pot. The straight ing in a smaller pot set on a few pebbles annual work cycle. Crops are tended sides and wider mouth ensure success­ nested inside a larger, watertight pot during the growing season, but when ful repotting. A generously sized drain­ with an inch or two of water in the the fields lie fallow, pots are made in­ age hole allows the water to seep through base. This is especially helpful when I doors then fired in kilns outside at the and prevents the roots from standing in must be away for long periods or when first sign of spring. too much water. And roots turn in upon the temperature is in the nineties. How plants came to be grown inside

March 1994 49 ceramic vessels is a matter for conjec­ The fad for houseplants had spread from use much. Pot, yes. And vessel. We love ture. I like to imagine a prehistoric cook the richer classes to the poorer, and, the word vessel. But container lacks po­ carefully storing beans for the winter in once the prices came down, a cactus etry. It sounds so industrial. Yet, strictly her favorite clay bowl. Like the leftovers could be found in nearly every house­ speaking, pots are indeed containers. ignored too long in a modern refrigera­ hold. Soon after, potted ferns became Still, we do not make pots as mere tor, perhaps the beans sprouted. How the rage. containers. Our gardening and potting pretty that bit of greenery must have It was during the Victorian era that souls yearn, now and then, for a shape looked bursting over the top of her bowl the common flowerpot, as we know it, that makes us sing or laugh out loud or in mid winter, and what a splendid idea. became a fixture in both European and smile with nostalgia. One comes upon Of course, that first flowerpot may have North American homes. Individually an earthenware elephant in a roadside been a dried gourd or clay-lined basket. thrown, they came in graduated, stan­ shop, an opening in its back for potting No matter. However the first flowerpots dard sizes, stacked neatly in storage, were soil, and knows that, with a planting of came into being, they soon became an porous, had generous drain holes and bright yellow portulaca, it would be the integral part of civilization. the red color of the clay looked good perfect bit of humor for a sunny spot In ancient Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut with plants. on the terrace. Perhaps one longs for a filled earthenware vessels with rich allu­ Once the Industrial Revolution and large pot with a slim waist in which to vial soil dug from the banks of the Nile the railroads ended the demand for plant a topiary. Or, like my friend, one (the first potting soil?), then set the handmade platters, jars and churns, folk dares to plant nasturtiums in shiny old planted pots out on the bare rock of her potters discontinued production of bean pots. After all, beyond food, isn’t temple garden for all to see. The showy nearly all their wares and devoted them­ the point of gardening to create beauty? plants must have looked especially stun­ selves almost exclusively to flowerpots. Doesn’t a pot with a waist in just the ning, placed as they were in the desert. Many of them let their imaginations right spot, maybe a little higher than Surely her subjects were impressed. Fol­ run free, inventing new shapes and em­ three-quarters of the way up, doesn’t it lowing her example, the avid plant col­ bellishments: tall strawberry jars with make you draw in your breath? There is lector and gardener, Ramses III, grew little pockets for the plants to grow out nothing that stops my heart quite like shrubs and even trees in roomy pots. the sides, hanging flowerpots with fluted the sight of the fronds of a lush fern Later, the Romans lined their balco­ rims, curved and flaring pots with at­ spilling over the flared rim of a slim- nies and rooftops with flowerpots, some­ tached drip pans, and even grave plant­ waisted pot with a rounded belly and a times using them as part of religious ers. A design that was popular in narrow foot. And I enjoy too a pot with ceremonies and sometimes simply rev­ England and the American South was the slightest hint of a neck. I don’t want eling in the effect they created. the “rustic” pot, which was incised to all my flowerpots to have necks or waists, Luca della Robbia caused a stir in resemble tree bark. Though the rural just a few of them, to catch the eye and the mid-15 th century when he deco­ poor may not have taken part in the set off a favorite plant. rated the walls of his pots with clay fads for exotics and houseplants, they Once I bought a large pot, with a swags of fruits, flowers and vines, then lined their front porches with flowerpots, thick, irregular rim, a fat round belly charged a small fortune for his creations. and often had special stepped shelves and three club feet, much like a witch’s The wealthy, eager to impress one an­ set out in their front yards to show off cauldron. I liked looking at that pot as other with the grandness of their large their potted plants. it sat by the west windows in the winter gardens, happily snapped up his pots. Fashions have changed over the years and on the wide front step in the sum­ Some of della Robbias designs are cop­ and so have our ideas of the perfect mer. It was a pot that broke all the rules, ied today and look quite nice in a mod­ garden pot. Modern gardeners no longer but it had character. ern, formal setting. rely only on pottery, but use a wide My favorite garden pot right now During the 16th century, European variety of objects for growing plants: has nothing growing in it. It’s an enor­ aristocrats were seized with a passion sawed-off barrels, old wooden rowboats, mous earthenware urn in front of a for gathering and accumulating plants painted cedar boxes, stone sinks (or imi­ stone church near my house. It has from all over the world. Over the next tation stone sinks), automobile tires, broad, rounded shoulders, three lugs few centuries, this collecting mania led resin and plastic imitations of terra cotta, and decorative bands of incising. It sits, to the development of orangeries, which as well as clay pots—some of them ex­ surrounded by shrubs, beneath a large required large pots in which to keep the pensive imports. As members of the tree, and no matter how many times I coveted citrus trees. Later, when conser­ baby-boom generation enter mid-life, drive past, it draws my eye. vatories and heated greenhouses were the traditional age for serious garden­ For the most part though, I make built, square and rectangular pots that ing, attention is being given as much to practical, fairly straight-sided garden could fit together snugly on a bench or the space outside homes as to the rooms pots, wider at the mouth, narrower at table came into vogue. These, too, con­ inside. Taking a cue from this, publish­ the foot, sometimes with a subtle hint tinue to find favor, though few people ers are offering lavishly illustrated books of waist, and occasionally with a round realize their original purpose. on gardening and garden design, in­ belly and indented, high waist. Flower­ By the 19th century, the importa­ cluding a number of titles on “con­ pots, after all, should not steal the show. tion and sale of exotic plants from dis­ tainer” gardening. They are the supporting actors on the tant lands became a thriving industry. Container is not a word we potters garden stage. A

50 CERAMICS MONTHLY John Woodward

“Historic Tradition—Contemporary (like a canvas) to prepare the surface “I am also interested in the un­ Vision,” an exhibition of portrait busts for painted imagery. usual juxtapositions that these com­ with painted landscape imagery by This series “deals with several dif­ binations cause,” Woodward contin­ Michigan artist John Woodward, was ferent issues at once,” Woodward ex­ ued. “By using scale, color, process on view through January 8 at Habatat/ plained. “While there is a general and materials in new ways, I feel I can Shaw Gallery in Farmington Hills, theme of concern for the environ­ not only develop exciting visual state­ Michigan. Primarily wheel thrown ment running through all the pieces, ments, but also allude to our need to with handbuilt additions, the busts each piece has...other issues involved look at the world and ourselves in were bisqued, then sanded and primed that are interrelated. new and unusual ways.” ▲

“Site,” 30 inches in height, wheel-thrown and handbuilt bust, with painted building framework on blue-sky-and-clouds background, by John Woodward, Rochester, Michigan.

March 1994 51 More Glaze Calculation Software by Rick Malmgren

Editors note:See the January 1992 CM forderiving a recipe from a formula. Mate­ integers, more accurate calculations can Rick Malmgren’s reviews of the glaze calcula­rials that have the necessary ingredients be achieved by using large batches of tion programs HyperGlaze IIx, Insight and to fulfill the formula are highlighted. 1000 or more. However, using large Mud File. Once the user has picked a collection of numbers is a bit risky, because only the materials from this list, the program first two digits are shown. As a result, There is an ancient expression that de­ goes to work calculating the exact 12 looks the same as 120. cisively splits the world into “the quick amount of each material required. When UNIQALC can be purchased from its and the dead.” The following European it has come as close as it is able to author, J. B. May, 19 Church Road, and American glaze calculation pro­ matching the unity formula, it displays Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield, West Mid­ grams exemplify the vast expanse be­ the result with a graph showing the lands, B73 5RX, England. The price is tween those two equalities. They all run oxides with an excess or a deficit. You £20 (approximately US$30). Specify on MS-DOS computers, but that is can then “bump” up or down each of disk size. where the similarity ends. the individual ingredients to try to im­ Three elegantly simple, extraordinar­ prove on the programs calculation. In Glaze Calculation for the Studio Potter ily powerful and fairly inexpensive (to several attempts, I had absolutely no Christopher Hoggs Glaze Calcula­ free) glaze calculation programs have luck at beating the match that the pro­ tion for the Studio Potter is UNIQALC s been developed by English potters over gram offered. rival at every task. Hogg developed the the last several years. They share strong UNIQALC s materials list is limited to program for his own use as a potter, but similarities to one another, so it is natu­ 48 different substances. There is a sepa­ he also brought to it his knowledge and ral to start off discussing them as a group. rate program called UNILOG for chang­ skills as a research chemist working in Each of the English programs is an ing the materials stored in this list. the ceramics section of English China extremely lean machine that gets to the Surprisingly, the limit of 48 materials Clays, the worlds largest producer of heart and soul of glaze calculation, does not feel constraining. Entering reci­ kaolins. namely: 1) calculating the unity for­ pes is done using a number assigned to Glaze Calculation for the Studio Pot­ mula from a recipe; 2) deriving the recipe the material. It is a pleasantly quick ter uses a materials library composed of from a given formula; and 3) calculat­ method, as you rapidly learn the num­ places for 110 materials. Formulas are ing the coefficient of expansion. The bers of commonly used materials. calculated almost instantly. Results of instruction manuals come on the disks The weakest part of the program is the formula calculation can be stored and may be a bit difficult to follow for its inability to store recipes. Formulas on disk as though they were materials people who have never worked with a can be stored in memory during a work in the materials library. computer. Generally, though, because session, but the system seemed compli­ The real power of this program comes they offer few options, they are easy to cated, and I never felt comfortable with through in the automatic calculation of learn. Also, they are so compact, the it. As soon as the machine is turned off, the recipe from the formula. One very system requirements are minimal; they everything stored in memory is gone. significant addition is the ability to as­ will run on any MS-DOS computer with Every time you want to consider a for­ sign greater importance to matching par­ a single floppy disk drive and only 256K mula or recipe, it must be typed in ticular oxides in the calculation. Some of memory. Now for the ways in which again. Printouts of calculations, while oxides that are a relatively small part of they vary from one another. basically clear, lack any sort of title, so the formula will play a prominent role each has to be hand labeled. in the look of the glaze. Assigning these UNIQALC The screen for entering recipes calls oxides greater importance assures a close UNIQALC, a program written by J. B. for them to be put in as percentages. In match of that particular oxide. May, is well thought out and (like the fact, the program seems quite happy The complex mathematical process others) calculates the unity formula in a and accurate accepting recipes that do that Hogg used causes this calculation flash. It is the strongest of the trio at not total 100%. Because it only accepts to run quite a bit slower than UNIQALC.

52 CERAMICS MONTHLY Some calculations can take up to 15 Box 152, Arnold, Maryland 21012. The extremely slippery ridge between the minutes, depending on the speed of the cost for disk, mailer and postage is $5.00. empirical and the theoretical. Anyone computer; however, the results show the Specify disk size. wanting a swift path to glaze mastery same degree of accuracy as UNIQALC. would do well to study the tests and the Hoggs program is designed to print Hewitt s Glazes concepts developed in their articles. on Epson-compatible printers. Running David Hewitts program performs Hewitt s program calculates the for­ it on noncolor monitors may cause some many of the same tasks as the previous mula from a recipe; it also calculates the problems. two, but takes a different tack in the coefficient of expansion and a variety of In addition to being extremely well fundamental approach. Elegantly ratios between basic glaze components. designed and useful, another major fea­ simple, it is based around a series of Unfortunately, it is limited to 27 mate­ ture is that it is free. As a public domain eight articles that Hewitt wrote with rials. Feldspars and clays are treated as program, it has been distributed to pot­ Mike Bailey and published in the En­ idealized formulas. The fact that there ters all over the world. It can be ob­ glish magazine Ceramic Review. Like no is no way to add or change the materials tained in the United States from the other potters I have read, Hewitt and that are listed is a very severe restriction Annapolis Potters Guild, Post Office Bailey manage to traverse the high and Please turn to page 86

March 1994 53 The Hydnocerus Series by Paul Sherman

I began making a series of conical shapes reached 10 feet tall, plus smaller, intact about eight years ago. My interest in ones can be found here even now. The this form can be traced back to a long­ fact that these fossils consisted of glass standing fascination with the amphoras and stone appealed to me, as these would and other conical vessels of several early be the materials (glaze and clay—eroded civilizations. But the catalyst for my cur­ stone) I would use to construct my three- rent work was a visit to the New York part “Hydnocerus Series.” State Natural History Museum, where “Series #1” consists of wheel-thrown a diorama featured several plaster mod­ stoneware forms surfaced with coarse els of conical-shaped sponges mixed in textures and marine hues; soft white with the rest of the marine flora and and pastel pink glazes were employed fauna of the Devonian Age. on the insides to suggest a shell-like Instantly, I recalled the marvelous New York artist Paul Sherman. correlation. These pieces are exhibited amphoras I had seen scattered on the horizontally on waist-high pedestals or ocean floor as part of a bathysphere references. I found some paper and be­ vertically supported in museum-type, exhibit at the Toronto Science Center. gan to sketch on the spot, intent on steel-ring bases to evoke the aura of the At the same time, I thought of textures capturing the images for a new series of found object or ancient artifact. and colors I had experienced snorkeling clay sculpture. I returned home that In “Series #2,” I diverged from the off the coast of the Bahamas several day with several pages of drawings, ready man-made/natural paradox of “Series years earlier. Also on my mind was some to get busy in my studio. #1,” and developed more organic forms reading I had done on fossils of ancient Subsequent research at the museums by introducing tentacle- and tendril­ marine life found in upstate New York. library revealed that the sponges in the like elements. These pieces are supported All three recollections seemed to play diorama were part of an extinct group from the inside by a metal rod attached back simultaneously, like three film pro­ called Hydnocerus, which were known to a steel plate so that they appear to be jectors focused on the same screen; soon, as glass spicules; they grew in my region growing from the floor or balanced pre­ cohesive mental images began to take of upstate New York when it was cov­ cariously on it. shape. The resulting forms were an amal­ ered by a saltwater marsh in the Devo­ The ceramic tentacles were replaced gam of both natural and man-made nian Age. Fossil fragments of some that with acrylic rods in “Series #3.” These

“Dawn Majesty,” 1 foot in diameter (4 feet in length), thrown-and-altered stoneware, with marine-hued glazes, from the “Hydnocerus Series #1.”

54 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Hydnocerus Series #3” sculpture, 6 feet high, constructed Glazed earthenware sculpture with acrylic “tentacles,” 6 feet from slip-soaked materials layered over a foam-rubber mold. high, mounted on a metal rod, from “Hydnocerus Series #3.”

translucent tentacles are reminiscent of was thus fabricated upside down and ½ thrown in sections, but from an earth­ marine organisms (e.g., sea anemones inch shorter than the height of the inte­ enware body. Capping the cones are and jellyfish), developing further the ani­ rior of my gas kiln—4 feet. bowl-like inserts from which the ten­ mated quality of the previous series. The surfaces were coarsely textured tacle- and tendril-like additions emerge. For “Series #1,” I began by throwing with various tools or covered with a Surface treatment was similar to “Series a large stoneware cylinder (actually a thick stuccolike mixture of slip made #1,” except that underglazes were fre­ truncated cone section) with a slightly from the clay body with additions of quently airbrushed and spattered. smaller opening at the top and slightly sand, mullite and Molochite. It was a The bowl insert with its organic ele­ sloping sides. This first section was simple matter to bisque fire these forms ments remains in “Series #3,” but the shaped and altered while on the wheel, standing on their rims, but glaze firing ceramic tendrils were replaced by ones pushed out from the inside of the form was a problem. I didn’t want to leave made of acrylic rod. In this series, I also with my fingers to produce bumps or the rim of the cone unglazed, as this wanted to make a break from the potter’s grooves on the surface. The diameter of would deny a transition between the wheel and subsequently developed a the top was measured to establish the glazed interior and exterior. The solu­ technique to facilitate construction of appropriate diameter for the bottom of tion was to glaze the rim, then place the irregular sculptures. I began by experi­ a second section thrown with the same piece on a thick bed of sand and/or menting with slip-dipped fabrics ar­ degree of slope to the wall. The sections coarse Molochite on the kiln shelf. Af­ ranged over a foam-rubber core; that were joined when the first section had ter the firing, any loose aggregate was evolved into the following technique: stiffened sufficiently to support the ad­ removed with a stiff bristle brush; the 1. An infrastructure is created by ditional weight. After the last and small­ result was a coarse coral-like texture on wrapping sheets of foam rubber over est section (just big enough to get a the rim, which related to the surface chunks of foam or newspaper held to­ hand inside) was attached, it was col­ texture on the cone. gether with tape. Sometimes sticks are lared in to close the opening. The cone In “Series #2,” the cones were again incorporated for rigidity and structure.

March 1994 55 The foam sheets of the final layer allow household shears. Because it is made rims are then sanded slightly to remove compression so the clay shell can shrink from sheets that are pressed together, it any dribbled slip. without cracking. separates easily into thin layers. Wider 6. For surfacing, the cones are placed 2. The foam is then wrapped with strips or squares can be used on flat on their rims on circular kiln shelves several layers of plastic cling wrap. This sections, but they should be thin. If the lined with newspaper. This prevents un­ acts as a release agent when separating layer of fiber glass is too thick, the slip necessary handling after the desired ef­ the dried clay shell from the infrastruc­ will not penetrate thoroughly, making fect has been attained. The surfaces are ture. If slip was applied directly to the the final wall a disastrous lamination of then textured with an application of the foam, it would soak in slightly and thus clay and air. stuccolike slip. When bone dry again, lock the clay to the foam. Three or four layers of fiber glass are they are sprayed with underglazes and 3. Next, the form is crisscrossed with applied to achieve the desired thickness, clear glaze. Sometimes sand or grog is 2x6-inch strips of cheesecloth, which which depends on the scale of the stirred into a jar of clear glaze; this mix­ have been dipped in a commercial Cone finished sculpture. I work on six forms ture is then applied with a brush. 04 casting slip. Cheesecloth proved to at a time, allowing each layer to become When surfacing is complete, the be the best fabric for this first layer bone dry before adding the next. newspaper (now covered with dribbled because of its slip-holding properties; it Instead of dipping the fiber-glass slip, underglaze overspray and glaze also clings and conforms to the surface strips in slip, its also possible to use a puddles) is removed from around the contours very well. Two layers are ap­ big house-painter s brush to apply slip cone. The shelf on which the cone was plied, allowing the first to become nearly directly onto the form, then quickly, surfaced is then placed on posts slightly dry before adding the second. while the area is still wet, select and raised above the bottom of an electric 4.1 then switch to slip-soaked sheets stick a strip to it. Additional slip is then kiln (with the kiln walls removed). Then of a fiber-glass material intended for brushed over the strip. all the ring-shaped wall sections are furnace and air conditioner filters (sold 5. When dry, each shell is laid on its restacked over and around the work, in rolls or by the running foot in good side and the foam and cling wrap re­ and the single firing begun. hardware or building supply stores). It moved. Since my forms are conical, re­ This method of construction has the was easy to imagine that the final shell moving the foam is easy enough. The advantage of compatibility with very would be stronger if a network of glass irregular forms, plus the ceramics pro­ fibers was fired into the clay wall rather duced have substantial dry strength. than a network of air channels. Use common sense when working The author Paul Sherman teaches at with fiber glass: Just as any industrial Fulton High School in Fulton, New York. fiber-glass worker would, protect your (See “The Making of‘Ceramic Artist’” on lungs with a suitable mask and your page 18 of the February 1993 CM.) Work skin with clothing and gloves. from his “Hydnocerus Series” was shown The filter material is first cut to the “Series #3” forms were constructed from recently at the Albright-Knox Museum of desired dimensions with a pair of sturdy slip-coated cheesecloth and fiber glass. Art in Buffalo, New York.

First, a foam-rubber mold was covered The mold was crisscrossed with two Finally, three or four layers of fiber glass with several layers of plastic cling wrap. layers of slip-dipped cheesecloth strips, and slip were applied.

56 CERAMICS MONTHLY Thrown-and-assembled porcelain teapot, 9 inches in height, with Cone 10 reduction glazes, by Peter Beasecker, Dallas.

Ceramic art in North America is as Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales orga­ perception that useful work does not diverse as the landscape, but one aspect nized “The American Way,” a traveling exist in America, that artists are just not of it that is not well known in the United exhibition of imaginative yet functional interested in use. This is anything but Kingdom is contemporary functional works made in the 1990s. the truth,” Chamberlain asserted in the ware. Because most of what has been Curated by U.S. ceramists Betty accompanying catalog. shown recendy in the U.K. is sculp­ Woodman and Scott Chamberlain, the Functional work is “hard to write tural, the common perception of show evolved from a conversation and talk about, but that doesn’t mean it American “domestic” pottery is still Chamberlain had with Alan Hewson, doesn’t exist,” Woodman concurred. dominated by names from the 1950s director of the Aberystwyth Arts Cen­ Together they invited 21 American and 1960s. To “explode some myths tre, in which they discussed the unfa­ ceramists, who work with a wide vari­ about the purely sculptural concerns” miliarity of artists in the U.K. with ety of materials and techniques, to par­ of American ceramists today, the American functional ware. “There is a ticipate in the show. While these potters

March 1994 57 are well aware of the Leach-Cardew tra­ They come together in strange hybrid­ or worry. They embrace styles of ceram­ dition so prominent in the U.K., they ized ways, but remnants of each one of ics that many would disregard, perhaps also look to other traditions. those traditions can still be recognized. even be hostile to.” “In America,” Woodman noted, “Styles are taken from many cultures “This parallels the whole idea of'bad “there is no one material that is the without being afraid to look at things painting,’ something that today is per­ right material with which to make func­ that are commonly thought of as...vul­ missible. Anything goes. This is intel­ tional pots. It doesn’t have to be stone­ gar, cheap and kitsch,” Chamberlain lectually challenging, and the making ware, it certainly doesn’t of useful ceramics also have to be brown and it “In America, ” Woodman noted, “there is no one material engages one intellectu­ doesn’t have to be terri­ that is the right material with which to make junctional ally,” Woodman con­ bly practical. The tradi­ pots. It doesn’t have to be stoneware, it certainly doesnt have cluded. tion of pieces that are to be brown and it doesnt have to be terribly practical. ” After opening at functional but also deco­ Aberystwyth Arts Cen­ rative is accepted and understood as continued. But today’s potters are “look­ tre, “The American Way” traveled to part of the continuity of ceramics.” ing seriously, analyzing, then allowing Cleveland (England) Craft Centre and “This is what many of the people in the more positive aspects to seep into Wrexham Library Arts Centre in Gwyn­ the show are doing,” Chamberlain ex­ one’s work. This is something that edd, Wales, and is now at Manchester plained, “exploring several traditions. Americans do well, and do without guilt (England) City Art Galleries. ▲

Tumblers, 7 inches in height, wheel-thrown porcelain, with Cone 6 oxidation glazes, by Alec Karros, Philadelphia.

58 CERAMICS MONTHLY “Lidded Zig Zag Bowl and Tray,” Red stoneware teapot, 10 inches high, Slab-built earthenware bowl, 18 inches in terra cotta, 15 inches in height, thrown/altered, with Cone 6 glazes, by length, with terra sigillata and Cone 04 glaze, by Jane Dillon, Boulder, Colorado. David Wright, Moorestown, New Jersey. by Mark Pharis, Roberts, Wisconsin.

Ewer, approximately 7 inches in height, wheel-thrown and assembled white stoneware, with Cone 10 reduction glazes, by Sarah Coote, Vancouver, British Columbia.

March 1994 59 Byzantine Serres Ceramics by Mary Kelton Seyfarth

Until recendy, knowledge of Byzantine century Greek pottery that opened at fire, lead-glazed red earthenware. The ceramics in the United States has been the Krannert Art Museum of the Uni­ use of lead oxide on clay was a simple kept mosdy to scholarly and esoteric versity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. and common method of glazing known studies; “little known and seldom dis­ Along with the discovery of two ship­ in parts of the Roman Empire, but the played in museums,” it has been “one wrecks and a handful of other 20th- ninth-century rise of Islamic pottery in of the most neglected branches of Byz­ century archaeological digs, recent the East stimulated new experiments antine and medieval art,” notes Demetra excavations at Serres, a city in northern with lead-glazed pottery in Byzantium. Papanikola-Bakirtzis, curator of “Ce­ Greece, have brought to light a buried Perhaps emulating Chinese white earth­ ramic Art from Byzantine Serres,” a trav­ history and aesthetic. enware and stoneware that was imported eling exhibition of 13th- and 14th- Byzantine Serres pottery is a low- into the empire by 850 A.D., Byzantine

Earthenware bowl, approximately 6 inches in diameter, with sgraffito medallions through white slip, found in Moronia, Greece (a town near Serres).

60 CERAMICS MONTHLY Sgraffito-decorated plate, approximately 8 inches in diameter, red earthenware with colored slips.

potters applied a white slip to color middle ages. Birds and animals may their red or red-buff terra cotta. have also functioned as talismans— In the tenth century, fine-line sgraf­ where the image protected the owner or fito work, an imitation of Islamic met­ user from harm. alwork, was widely practiced. The Though the drawings of birds on engraved line is quick and by that time the shards from Serres in particular, and more popular than a slip-trailed line. from Byzantine pottery in general, are By the middle of the 13th century, fine the most striking images, the majority lines gave way to broad-line sgraffito of sgraffito works are geometric and images. Potters also adopted the champ- foliate patterns, generally encircled. In­ leve process (scraping away slip from an herited from the highly developed de­ image to create a low relief on a darker, Serres was at the center of lead-glazed, sign sense of Islamic ware, there is a contrasting ground), which originated sgraffito-decorated earthenware rhythm of “centrifugal/centripetal alter­ in Persia. production in Byzantine Greece. nation.” Concentric circles may sur­ Byzantine ceramics is a secular art round a center medallion framing a star with strong vernacular expressions. Free brought with them tales and images or pentagon. Broad bands, on the in­ from the “restraints and conventions from medieval Europe. In return, side or outside of a form, are filled with that guided and controlled Byzantine Byzantines, Crusaders and Italian mer­ repeated lines, cross hatched or curved. religious art,” the Byzantine potter was chants introduced lead-glazed tableware Or a guilloche motif, which looks like a inventive and individualistic, even im- into western Europe via the trading cen­ twisted rope, is carved into the clay. provisational. The pottery from Serres ters of Venice and Genoa. Byzantine Reminiscent of Tang three-color was made during the Palaeologian dy­ polychrome wares were even known as ware, the Byzantine yellow-hued lead nasty—the last family to rule before the far north as the Rhineland and Russia. glaze, spotted with floating splashes of empire fell to the Ottoman Turks in Potters may have traveled from site iron-brown and copper-green, has a 1453. Because their coffers had been to site, as pottery was produced in many strong chromatic appeal. To the mod­ depleted by border wars and internal centers in the empire. Decoration pri­ ern eye there is a visual “push-pull” to strife, they were unable to afford metal marily recorded the natural and physi­ the surface. The oxides were applied as serving dishes and had their tables set cal world, rather than a spiritual world, alternating colors, giving a light-dark, with ceramic vessels decorated with a and Byzantine ceramics are loaded with “sunshine and shadow” color structure. “wealth of curious and diverse images.” images of animals (benign and fierce), This is work of independent, inventive The empire was crisscrossed with knights, folk warriors, wedding couples minds responding to the demands of trade. Ceramics that originated in the and aristocratic ladies. The repertoire the craft—not to rules of authority. Islamic Near East influenced the Byz­ particularly includes birds of all kinds24-,, Comparatively speaking, this popular antine potter. Islamic lusterware from doves from the Christian world, pea- ^ art, crafted to supply a theocracy, re­ the Fatamid dynasty, 969-1171, in cocks from Persia, ducks from Egypt, flects an exuberance far removed from Egypt may have traveled to Byzantium phoenixes and falcons. Falconry was a “sedate and formal Eastern models.” from North Africa. And Christian Cru­ popular aristocratic sport practiced The excavation at Serres unearthed a saders on their way to the Holy Land throughout the Middle East in the “large number of shards with common

March 1994 61 characteristics,” indicating they came potter making a set of tableware is a “Humanizing” was not the intention. If from the same workshop. Ware was fired spin-off of the industrial revolution. anything, at the high point of Byzan­ in an updraft kiln and at this site frag­ Twentieth-century Western potters are tine ceramics, the potter wanted the ments of clay rods and S-shaped clay heirs and practitioners of an arts and work to look rich and fancy. Designs forms were found. As archaeologists ex­ crafts movement that expounded an aes­ were reproduced from a recognizable amined the kilns, they could identify thetic of “humanizing” a low-cost, mass- and accepted field, but each bowl, each close-set holes around the walls, indi­ produced form. plate, was unique. This is art. cating that shelves were made of parallel The Byzantine potter obviously never But their pottery was not “art pot­ rods. Vase forms and bowls were set and conceived of industry as we know it. tery,” as we define it. These forms are fired on these rods. Small, neither metaphors for handled pots may have something else nor deco­ been suspended by the S- rative wares. Instead, they forms, or they may have were made for daily use. been placed between Trained by repetition, vases to prevent them potters supplied an inter­ from sticking to one an­ national demand. Today, other in a glaze firing. one still can read the un­ Similar rods have also hesitating and economi­ been excavated from kiln cal sureness of the potter’s sites of Islamic pottery, drawings. according to Papanikola- In Bernard Leach’s Bakirtzis, “but this is the challenge for a good pot, first time that they have one criterion he speaks been noted in the Byzan­ about is the suitability of tine world.” the design on the form. Though not at Serres Given the round frame until much later (around of the pot (usually a 1500), the tripod clay stilt bowl), Byzantine symme­ was also used by the Byz­ try “conforms to the cir­ antine potter. As plates cular shape of concentric and bowls were fired up­ lines” drawn in the cen­ side down, stilts (made ter. Relief comes in the by hand, thrown or balance of asymmetry. pressed in molds) sepa­ The lateral movement of rated stacked wares in the Reconstructed Serres plate shards, micaceous terra cotta with slips, the bird on the bowl, kiln. The stilt design was 13th—14th century, approximately 10 inches in diameter. where the eyes and beak imported from the Is­ face to the right and the lamic world, which bor­ Below: Cross section of kiln showing how pots were “shelved” feet face to the left, gives rowed it from China. on wall-mounted clay rods or suspended on S-shaped clay hooks. an East-West movement This seemingly minor within the radial design. element, even though it left three pock­ There is something familiar to the marks on a glazed surface, led to a revo­ contemporary eye about this work from lution in medieval pottery production. 800 years ago. The images are flat; they From both the glazed and unglazed are outlined in a dark, almost black shards, archaeologists have proposed that color; they come from folk sources and the work at Serres was completed in they have a naive as well as a formal three firings: a bisque, a second for the quality to them. The images are not oxides and a third for glazes. Each bowl symbols. Perhaps the reason this work showed a turned foot, as a characteristic conveys such joy is because the Serres “nipple” was left in the center of the “production potters” were true to their trimmed underside. “Labor intensive” intent, true to their craft. is a phrase never conceived of in the medieval world. Perhaps more apropos The authorCurrently a ceramics instruc­ is the concept of “available work” and tor at Columbia College in Chicago, Mary the desire to communicate the physical Seyfarth received an M.F.A. at the Univer­ world in a plastic medium. sity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where From a potters point of view, it is the exhibition opened. A catalog/book on interesting to note, no “sets” (as we know Byzantine ceramics was produced by the them) were found. The concept of a University of Illinois Press.

62 CERAMICS MONTHLY

64 CERAMICS MONTHLY lery Ten, 514 East State Street, Rockford 61104. Call for Entries April 30 entry deadline Application Deadline for Exhibitions, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania “Invitational Artist Series” (3 solo exhibitions, 1994-1995). Juried Fairs, Festivals and Sales from slides. No entry fee. For application, send SASE to the Clay Studio, 139 North Second Street, Philadelphia 19106; or, for information only, telephone (215) 925-3453. International Exhibitions May 30 entry deadline March 12 entry deadline Philadelphia, Pennsylvania “Majolica: Con­ Baldwin City, Kansas “The 1994International temporary Interpretations” (September). Juried Orton Cone Box Show” (April 6-24),sponsored from slides. No entry fee. For information and by Baker University and Edward Orton Jr. Ce­ application, send SASE to the Clay Studio, 139 ramic Foundation. Open to pieces small enough North Second Street, Philadelphia 19106; or, for to fit inside a standard Orton cone box (not to information only, telephone (215) 925-3453. exceed 3x3x6inches). Entry fee: $15for 1-3 pieces. Each entry must be for sale and must not Regional Exhibitions exceed $100in value. Awards: purchase awards, $100each; and merit awards, $50each. For entry April 1 entry deadline form, send business-sized SASE to Walter Bailey, Winston-Salem, North Carolina “Spotlight ’94: Baker University, Box65, Baldwin 66006.City Southeast Crafts” (June 9-July 10), open to artists residing in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, National Exhibitions Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. March 7 entry deadline Juried from slides. Juror: Hunter Kariher, direc­ West Chester, Pennsylvania “Spring Fantasy” tor, American Craft Council. Cash and purchase (March 25-April 30). Juried from slides. Fee: $10 awards. For prospectus, send #10 business-sized for up to 3 entries. For prospectus, send SASE to the SASE to Spotlight ’94, Sawtooth Center for Visual Potters Gallery, do Carol Jackaway, 9 West Ebon Art, 226 N. Marshall St., Winston-Salem 27101. Road, Parkside, Pennsylvania 19015. State College, Pennsylvania “Images ’94” (June March 14 entry deadline 28-July 22), open to artists residing in Pennsylva­ Greeley, Colorado “31st Annual Greeley Art nia and the Mid-Atlantic region. Entry fee: $20. Mart” (May 5-13). Juried from slides. Entry fee: Juror: Elizabeth Osborne, painter. Awards: $2000. $ 10; students, $5. For prospectus, contact Kristine For prospectus, send SASE to Central Pennsylvania L. Bensler, 1833 Pinecrest Lane, Greeley 80631; Festival of the Arts, Box 1023, State College or telephone (303) 352-3995. 16804; or telephone (814) 237-3682. March 18 entry deadline Bellingham, Washington “Focus on Fire: Art in University Park, Pennsylvania* Grafts National Architecture in the Pacific Northwest” (August 1- 28” (June 5-July 24). Juried from slides. Juror: September 30, in conjunction with symposium at Carole Austin, curator, San Francisco Craft and Bellevue Community College), open to artists Folk Art Museum. Fee: $20 for up to 3 entries. whose work has been installed recently in British Awards: $3000. For prospectus, send SASE to Columbia, Oregon and Washington. Juried from Crafts National 28, Zoller Gallery, 102 Visual slides or photographs depicting the art’s integra­ Arts Building, Penn State University, University tion into architecture, with descriptions and in­ Park 16802; or telephone (814) 865-0444. formation on availability of auxiliary materials March 25 entry deadline available for exhibition. Juror: Lloyd E. Herman, Lincoln, California “Feats of Clay VII” (May director emeritus, Smithsonian Institution’s Ren- 25-June 18). Juried from slides. Juror: Don Reitz. wick Gallery. Send SASE to Lloyd E. Herman, Box Entry fee: $10 per work; up to 3 entries. Awards: 67, Bellingham 98227; or telephonelfax (206) over $9000 in place, merit and purchase prizes. 734-6283. For prospectus, send SASE to Lincoln Arts, Box June 4 entry deadline 1166, Lincoln 95648. Huntsville, Alabama “The Red Clay Survey” March 30 entry deadline (August 29-October 9), open to artists working Dayton, Ohio “ 11 th Annual Dayton Art Expo” in most media and residing in Alabama, Arkansas, (November 5-6). Juried from 3 slides. Jury fee: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missis­ $5. Entry fee: $85. Top award: $1000. For pro­ sippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ten­ spectus, send large SASE to Carole Shoemaker, 346 nessee. Juried from slides. Juror: Irving Shapiro. Butterfly Drive, Beavercreek, Ohio 45434; or Awards: $7500. For prospectus, contact Red Clay telephone (513) 426-1576. Survey Biennial, Huntsville Museum of Art, 700 April 1 entry deadline Monroe Street, Southwest, Huntsville 35801; or Portland, Oregon “A Courtyard Collection” telephone (205) 535-4350. (June 12-July 16). Juried from 5 slides and resume. Send SASE to Executive Director, Contemporary Crafts Gallery, 3934 Southwest Corbett Avenue, Fairs, Festivals and Sales Portland 97201; or telephone (503) 223-2654. March 8 entry deadline April 29 entry deadline Guilford, Connecticut “37th Annual Guilford Rockford, Illinois“2x2x2” (May 20-July 1), Handcrafts Exposition” (July 14-16). Juried from open to works of dimensions not over 2 inches. 5 slides. Entry fee: $15. Booth fee: $360 or $410 Juried from actual works. Entry fee: $15 for 3 for a 10x12-foot space. Cash awards. For applica­ works. For prospectus, send SASE to 2x2x2, Gal-tion, contact the Guilford Handcrafts Exposition, Box 589, Guilford 06437; for information, tele­ Send announcements of juried exhibitions, fairs, fes­ phone (203) 453-5947. tivals and sales at least four months before the event’s March 11 entry deadline entry deadline (add one month for listings in July and Columbus, Ohio “Midsummer Fair” (July 30- two months for those in August) to Call for Entries, 31). Juried from 4 slides of work plus 1 of booth. Ceramics Monthly, P. O. Box 12788, Columbus,Entry fee: $ 10. Booth fee: $ 110 for a 1 Ox 10-foot Ohio 43212-0788; or telephone (614) 488-8236. space, $175 for a tented space. Contact Ohio Fax (614) 488-4561. Regional exhibitions must be Designer Craftsmen Enterprises, 1665 West Fifth open to more than one state. Avenue, Columbus 43212. Continued

March 1994 65 Call for Entries $6600 cash; $ 16,000 purchase pledges. For appli­ cation, contact Wausau Festival of Arts, Kathleen Grant, Registration Chair, Box 1763, Wausau 54402; or telephone (715) 842-1676. Shaker Heights, Ohio “The Craftfair at April 5 entry deadline Hathaway Brown” (June 17-19). Juried from 4 Latrobe, Pennsylvania “Westmoreland Arts/ slides of work plus 1 of booth. Entry fee: $10. Heritage Festival” (July 1-4). Juried from slides. Booth fee: $175 for a 10x10-foot space, $230 for Send legal-sized SASE to Westmoreland Arts/Heri­ a tented space. Contact Ohio Designer Craftsmen tage Festival, Box 355A, RD 2, Latrobe 15650. Enterprises, 1665 West Fifth Avenue, Columbus, April 9 entry deadline Ohio 43212. Layton, New Jersey “Peters Valley Craft Fair” March 15 entry deadline (July 30-31). Juried from 5 slides. Entry fee: $15. Fair Hill, Maryland^air Hill Country Music Booth fee: $200 for a 10x10-foot, outdoor space; and Crafts Festival” (July 9). Juried from 4 slides. additional $50 for a corner space; additional $75 Entry fee: $5. Exhibition fee: $70. Contact the for tented. For application, send SASE to Peters Governor’s Office of Art and Culture, 300 Preston Valley Craft Fair, 19 Kuhn Rd., Layton 07851; or Street, Suite 400, Baltimore, Maryland 21201; or telephone (201) 948-5200 or fax (201) 948-0011. telephone Cynthia Brower (410) 225-4712. April 15 entry deadline Corning, New York “Market Street, A Festival Albuquerque, New Mexico “22nd Annual of Art” (August 20-21). Juried from 5 slides. Southwest Arts and Crafts Festival” (November Entry fee: $10. Booth fee: $175 fora 10x10-foot 10-13). Juried from 5 slides. Entry fee: $15. space. For application, send SASE to Empire State Booth fee: $300 for an 8x12-foot space; $350 for Crafts Alliance, 320 Montgomery St., Syracuse, a 4x20 or corner. Awards: $10,000. For prospec­ New York 13202; or telephone (315) 472-4245. tus, contact Southwest Arts and Crafts Festival, Syracuse, New York“5th Annual Syracuse Fine 525 San Pedro, NE, Ste. 107, Albuquerque 87108. Crafts Market” (November 19-20). Juried from 5 Sheboygan, Wisconsin “24th Annual Outdoor slides. Entry fee: $ 10. Booth fee: $ 17 for a 1 Ox 10- Arts Festival” (July 16-17). Juried from 5 slides. foot space. For application, send SASE to Empire Jury fee: $10. Entry fee: $45. Awards: $2000 cash, State Crafts Alliance, 320 Montgomery Street, plus purchase prizes. Contact John Michael Kohler Syracuse 13202; or telephone (315) 472-4245. Arts Center, 608 New York Ave., Box 489, She­ Madison, Wisconsin “Art Fair on the Square” boygan 53082; or telephone (414) 458-6144. (J uly 9-10). J uried from slides. Contact the Madi­ April 16 entry deadline son Art Center, 211 State Street, Madison 53703; Sun Valley, Idaho “The 26th Annual Sun Val­ or telephone (608) 257-0158. ley Arts and Crafts Festival” (August 12-14). March 25 entry deadline Juried from 5 slides. Entry fee: $10. Booth fee: Salem, Oregon “45th Annual Salem Art Fair $200 for a 10x10-foot space; $300 for a 10x20. and Festival” (July 15-17). Juried from 6 slides. Awards: $1000. For application, send legal-sized Booth fee: $60 for a 10x10-foot space. Commis­ SASE to the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and sion: 20%. Send SASE to 1994 Prospectus, Salem Humanities, Box 656, Sun Valley 83353. Art Fair and Festival, 600 Mission Street, South­ Staten Island, New York “Fourth Annual Snug east, Salem 97302. Harbor Craft Fair” (September 30-0ctober 2). March 30 entry deadline Juried from 5 slides. Booth fee: $225 for an 8x10- Cambridge, Wisconsin “Third Annual Cam­ foot space; $275 for a 10x10. Send SASE to Sara bridge Pottery Festival (June 11-12). Juried from Cogswell Wells, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 4 slides. Entry fee: $10. Booth fee: $100. Send 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island 10301; or SASE to Cambridge Pottery Festival, do Needhams, telephone (718) 448-2500. 245 Hoopen Road, Cambridge 53523; or tele­ April 30 entry deadline phone (608) 423-4502. Fredonia, New York “Chautauqua Crafts Fes­ April 1 entry deadline tival ’94” (July 8-10 and August 12-14). Juried Muskegon, Michigan “Art in the Park” (July 1- from slides. For prospectus, send #10 SASE to 3). Juried from slides. Awards: best of show, Chautauqua Crafts Alliance, Box 389, Fredonia $1500; second place, $1000; third, $500. For 14063; or telephone (716) 679-3413. information and application, contact Art in the May 1 entry deadline Park, Muskegon Summer Celebration, 587 West Dubuque, Iowa“Dubuquefest” (May 21-22). Western Avenue, Muskegon 49440; or telephone Juried from 3 slides or color prints. Booth fee: $50 (616) 722-6520. for a 10x10-foot space. For application, contact Morristown, New Jersey “ 18th Annual Morris­ Dubuquefest, 422 Loras Boulevard, Dubuque town CraftMarket” (October 7-9). Juried from 5 52001; or telephone (319) 588-9751. slides. Entry fee: $20. For application, send SASE June 1 entry deadline to Morristown CraftMarket-CM, Box 2305, Gaithersburg, Maryland “19th Annual Na­ Morristown 07962. tional Craft Fair” (October 14-16). Juried from 5 Columbus, Ohio “German Village Oktoberfest” slides of work and 1 of display, plus resume. Entry (September 9-11). Juried from 4 slides or photos fee: $10. Booth fee: $300, outdoor; $375, roofed; ofworkplus 1 of display. Entry fee: $50 (refunded or $400, indoor. Contact National Crafts, Ltd., if not accepted). Booth fee: $ 175 for an 8x 12-foot Mary F. Clark, Director, 4845 Rumler Road, space; $350 for an 8x24; additional $35 for a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201; or telephone corner booth. For application, send SASE to Huff s (717) 369-4810. Promotions, 4275 Fulton Road, Northwest, Can­ Richmond, Virginia “The 30th Annual Rich­ ton, Ohio 44718; or telephone (800) 722-4833. mond Craft and Design Show” (November 11- Spring Green, Wisconsin “25th Annual Spring 13). Juried from slides. For application, contact Green Arts and Crafts Fair” (June 25-26). Juried the Hand Workshop, 1812 West Main Street, from slides. Entry fee: $75. Awards: $3000 in cash Richmond 23220; or telephone (804) 353-0094. and over $6500 in purchase awards. For applica­ July 1 entry deadline tion, contact Spring Green Arts and Crafts Fair, Mason City, Iowa “Annual Outdoor Art Mar­ Box 96, Spring Green 53588; or telephone the ket” (August 21). Juried from 5 slides or photos. Spring Green Chamber of Commerce (608) 588- Booth fee: $25. No commissions. Cash and pur­ 2042 or Lynn Stephens (608) 588-7733. chase awards. For entry form, contact MacNider Wausau, Wisconsin “Wausau Festival of Arts” Art Museum, Art Market, 303 Second St., SE, (September 10-11). Juried from slides. Awards: Mason City 50401; or telephone (515) 421 -3666.

66 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 67 Questions my area, none had any idea how to obtain the color other than with commercial stains (which are Answered by the CM Technical Staff obviously too expensive for use in a clay body). How would you suggest I go about formulating such a burgundy-colored clay?—L.H. Because a manufacturer is likely to receive a Q Some years ago, CM published a recipe for a special price when purchasing large amounts of sofi-paste porcelain casting body referred to as materials, stains may indeed have been used (at “tenderporcelain. ’’Couldyou republish this recipeleast in part) to prepare the commercial body and the specifics of its use?—G.P. you describe. In that case you may have to do Richard Behrens offered the following recipethe same thing, but at quite a price disadvan­ for a broad-range-firing, soft-paste porcelain tage, to get the result you seek. body in his article, “Low Temperature Frit However, anytime you mix a colorant with Porcelain,” which appeared in the Novemberanother colorant or with a color modifier, you 1971 issue. are making a primitive stain. So, some experi­ ments are worth trying before you give in to Porcelain Casting Body using expensive commercial body stains. (Cone 014-04) Whenever a color appears in ceramics, there Frit 3134 (Ferro)...... 394 grams are a limited number of possible colorant sources. Tennessee Ball Clay #1...... 320 By working through logical blends of the pos­ 714 grams sible colorants, you should be able to produce To this batch add 286 milliliters of water. the body color you seek. Pemco frit P-54 or Hommel frit 14 may be The colorants most likely to produce bur­ substituted for the Ferro frit 3134. gundy (and there is always some question about Behrens commented about this body: the exact meaning of any subjective color name) “When fired at Cone 014 to Cone 010, it include: chromium, copper, gold (unlikely be­ vitrifies well; when fired at the Cone 06-04 cause of cost), magnesium with cobalt, and range, it is self glazing.... manganese. “This formula must be deflocculated for Using the last of these colorants as an ex­ proper casting. A good deflocculating agent isample, a here is how a potter might go about mix of soda ash and water glass [sodium sili­ testing it: First, get to know a suspect material cate] . The deflocculating solution may be madeby studying the literature. Two good sources on by dissolving 8 grams of soda ash in 50 millili­colorants are: The Ceramic Spectrum by Robin ters [ml] of hot water and adding 2 5 ml of waterHopper, and Ceramic Glazes by Cullen W. glass. This is then brought up to 100 ml with Parmelee and Cameron G. Harman. A litera­ hot water. ture search reveals that manganese (in its re­ “A satisfactory sequence for preparing theduced, trivalent form [Mn3+]) is commonly casting slip is to add the water content of the implicated in purple or red/purple colors. (Di­ formula to a container, followed with some valent manganese [Mn2+] yields the more com­ 14.3 ml of the deflocculating solution. The claymon brown color found in oxidation.) Trivalent is then added and stirred well. The frit may thenmanganese may occur when the kiln atmo­ be incorporated and the slip permitted to standsphere is reduced, but also when other body for a time before use. Occasionally...a little materials steal oxygen from manganese, caus­ more or less of the deflocculant may provideing the even a little “local reduction.” Introducing optimum casting slip.” a small amount of fine silicon carbide is a Prior to firing, work is placed “on a refrac­traditional way to locally reduce a glaze (even tory tile or...kiln shelf which has been coated though this glaze is fired in an oxidized or with a special kiln wash made up of 75% neutral kiln atmosphere); but silicon carbide in alumina hydrate and 25% kaolin, with just a clay body is highly abrasive and produces enough water added to make a watery paste.”substantial gas on firing (which causes bubbles/ Behrens noted that sharp edges of soft-pastepinholes in overlying glaze), and so probably is works tended to round off when fired in the an unsuitable choice. Luckily, it takes very little Cone 06—04 range, suggesting the body was reductionat of manganese to produce a strong maximum useful vitrification (or overfired).color, so it seems likely this deep burgundy can be achieved without silicon carbide but with Q For years I have wanted to make a clay similar other carbon-containing ingredients. to a commercial body that I used in the late 1970s. The pure color actually made by trivalent It had a smooth texture, was deep burgundy in manganese is a strong violet, but when pre­ color, worked well for throwing and handbuild- sented to the eye along with divalent manganese ing, and fired to a medium temperature range or iron brown or other red-brown colorants, (Cones 3—5 worked best). Since then, I haven’t manganese’s violet easily appears burgundy. seen another clay of this rich burgundy color. When A few earthenware or secondary clays (par­ I brought fired samples of it to ceramics suppliers in ticularly when fired at their upper limits) on

68 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 69 Questions making stains themselves, but few continue this process for long because of the substantial amount of labor required. Additionally, fluorine-containing materi­ their own tend toward a warmer burgundy. als, rutile or some forms of iron may also be These clays may actually contain manganese, involved as part of the color reaction you seek. which is somewhat reduced by other body Finally, all these metal oxide colorants are materials (such as carbonates). Only a clay potentially hazardous to the potter, particularly analysis from your supplier will tell which re­when used in a body that might produce sub­ gionally available red clays contain some man­stantial, constant dust over a period of years. ganese. Thus, studio hygiene is particularly important So start your experiments by exploring whenever colored clays are used. quadraxial body blends (incremental blends Further, we welcome subscribers’ submis­ between four materials) in 10% increments ofsions of burgundy-colored, oxidation clay body all possible variations. (How to blend using arecipes. Should some good ones come in, we blending chart was covered in the February will publish them in the Letters column. 1993 Questions column.) Three quadraxial blends seem particularly likely to produce theQ I would like to convert some lead glazes to desired results: 1) Any manganese-containing nontoxic recipes, but want to avoid boron com­ red earthenware clay; manganese dioxide; a pounds (including boron frits) because I am aller­ clean, high-firing clay such as a kaolin (for gic to them. Is there some other flux that can be bright colors) or fine-mesh fireclay (for a more substitutedfor lead in lower-firing glazes?—K.L. muted color); and ball clay (for plasticity). 2) Any white earthenware clay; manganese diox­ Try substituting strontium oxide or carbon­ ide; a clean, high-firing clay such as a kaolin orate for the lead content. A more expensive fine-mesh fireclay; and ball clay. 3) Any earth­chemical than boron, strontium is listed in Gail enware clay; manganese dioxide; a clean, high-Barazani’s Safe Practices in the Arts & Crafts, A firing clay such as a kaolin or fine-mesh fireclay;Studio Guide as exhibiting “no evidence of and ball clay. illness in industry.” Other ceramics sources list Firing range also is an important factor in it simply as “nontoxic.” Eastern bloc potters achieving color. Theoretically, the glassier clayshave been using this slightly soluble material for will tend to be more successful in producing years as a lead substitute in glazes, firing as low burgundy than the underfired ones, so test youras Cone 04 with excellent results—particularly blend samples at a variety of cones. when seeking unusual color response. Try the same blending procedure for the other colorants that may be implicated in a deepQ What is the meaningof“mesh ”in ratingsieves? burgundy body reaction, substituting them forCould you give some guidelines for using various manganese dioxide in the blends discussed pre­meshes?—C.N. viously. Mesh numbers typically indicate the num­ Robin Hopper mentions the following ber of wires or filaments per linear inch—the homemade stain recipes for use in underglazelarger or the number, the finer the mesh. Window glaze, but they also seem appropriate for use screen is 18 mesh and serves well for removing with bodies. Either one might help produce acoarse impurities from natural clay slip, as well burgundy color when used alone or in combi­as for the first screening of new glaze batches nation with colorants inherent in clays. prior to further screenings with one or two progressively finer screens. Crimson Stain Also, screening goes more quicldy if one Potassium Dichromate...... 1.5 parts starts with a small mesh number and proceeds Calcium Sulfate...... 5.0 through finer screenings to the particle size Fluorspar...... 7.0 desired. It is easier (and safer) to screen liquids Tin Oxide...... 45.0 rather than powders because dry screening pro­ Whiting...... 23.0 duces a substantial amount of potentially harm­ Flint...... 20.0 ful dust with no benefit over wet screening. A 101.5 parts stiff brush will help work materials through. Robert Fournier, in his book The Illustrated Mulberry Stain Dictionary of Practical Pottery, recommends the Cobalt Oxide...... 10 parts following ranges of screens: “60-80 for slips Manganese Dioxide...... 60 and many stoneware glazes; 100-120 for earth­ Feldspar...... 30 enware glazes; 200 for pigments and stains.” Flint...... __S 105 parts Subscribers' questions are welcome and those of gen­ eral interest will be answered in this column. Due to These require fritting—they must be melted,volume, letters may not be answered personally. Ad­ ground, washed like ash, then dried—before dress the Technical Staff, Ceramics Monthly, Post use in test blends. Many potters have tried Office Box 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788.

70 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 71 Calendar and Ethics” will include lectures, workshops, de­ bates and the drafting of challenges, strategies and Events to Attend—Conferences, goals for the American crafts movement. For a Exhibitions, Workshops, Fairs prospectus, send business-sized SASE to Craft and Ethics, Sawtooth Center for Visual Art, 226 North Marshall Street, Winston-Salem 27101; or tele­ phone (910) 723-7395. Conferences California, Davis March 31-April 4 “Fifth An­ International Conferences nual California Conference for the Advancement Canada, Ontario, Toronto April 28-May 1 “Vic­ of Ceramic Art,” with featured artists Gail Bakutis, torian: The Style of Empire” will include lectures, Robert Charland, Scott Donahue, Karla Holland- discussions and workshops examining mid-19th- Scholer, Van Keuren, Ingrid Larson, Joe Mariscal, century style and how it influenced the design of Tom Rippon, Richard Shaw, Robert Sperry, Rimas interiors, architecture, furniture, ceramics, fash­ VisGirda, Peter Voulkos and Kurt Weiser. Will ion, applied and industrial arts. Contact the Royal also include lectures, slide presentations, panel Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto discussions, tours and exhibitions. Contact John M5S 2C6. Natsoulas Gallery, 140 F Street, Davis 95616; or May 27-29 “Shifting Sands—Changing Times,” telephone (916) 756-3938. Fusion: The Ontario Clay and Glass Association’s California, San Jose April 21—24 “Tiles and Tra­ annual conference and workshop, will feature dition: A Celebration of Color and Design” will demonstrations and discussions by Tom Cole­ include slide lectures, demonstrations, workshops, man. Fee: Can$100 (approximately US$75). Con­ tile auction/sale, scheduled and self-guided tours, tact Fusion, 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 204, plus a concert with ceramic Udu drums by Frank Toronto M5V 2J3;or telephone (416) 777-9899. Giorgini. For brochure and registration form, contact Tile Heritage, Box 1850, Healdsburg, Solo Exhibitions California 95448; or telephone (707) 431-8453. Illinois, Chicago April 14-16 “ART-21: Art Arizona, Scottsdale March 1-26Matthew Metz, Reaches into the Twenty-first Century,” a Na­ figurative functional ceramics; at Joanne Rapp tional Endowment for the Arts conference. Con­ Gallery/The Hand and the Spirit, 4222 North tact the National Endowment for the Arts, Nancy Marshall Way. Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, North­ California, Davis through April 1 Anthony Nat­ west, Washington, D.C. 20506; or telephone soulas, drawings and wall pieces; at John Natsoulas (202) 682-5400. Gallery, 140 F Street. October 7—9 “Asian Ceramics: Potters, Users and California, La Jolla March 12-April23 Collabo­ Collectors in Society and History” will examine rative dinnerware, glassware and furniture by the ceramics as a means of interpreting ancient societ­ team MacKenzie-Childs; at Gallery Eight, 7464 ies, and will include speakers from China, Japan, Girard Avenue. Korea, Thailand, England, Indonesia and the D.C., Washington through April 17 William United States. Contact the Field Museum, Daley, ceramics and drawings; at the Renwick Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago Gallery, National Museum of American Art, 60605; or telephone (312) 922-9410. Smithsonian Institution. Louisiana, Baton Rouge March 22 “NCECA Florida, Pensacola through March 16 Patrick Preconference Extravaganza” will include: “Ce­ Crabb, architectural references; at Pensacola Jun­ ramic Education as We Approach the 21st Cen­ ior College, 1000 College Boulevard. tury,” panel discussion with visiting artists Chris­ Florida, West Palm Beach through March 12 tina Bertoni, Ramon Elozua, Ken Ferguson and Harvey Sadow; at the Armory Art Center, 1703 Sandy Simon; demonstrations and workshops by South Lake Avenue. above artists; and opening reception for “3000 Indiana, Indianapolis April 10-May 22 “Brandt Years of Chinese Ceramic Art from the House of Steele, Indianapolis Arts and Crafts Designer and Benevolent Learning,” as well as openings of Potter”; at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 undergraduate and graduate exhibitions. Regis­ West 38th Street. tration fee (after March 5): $45; students, $35. Louisiana, New Orleans March 5—30 Bryan Contact Kate Blacklock, School of Art, 123 De­ Steinberg, “Post-Industrial Vessels.” Jeremy sign Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Jernegan, “Marking Time.” Arlene Burke Mor­ Rouge 70803. gan; at Still-Zinsel Contemporary Fine Art, 328 Louisiana, New Orleans March 23-26“Gumbo Julia Street. Ceramique,” annual conference of the National Michigan, Albion through March 27Kathy Ornish, Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Con­ “Symbols of Transformation: Recent Sculpture”; tact Regina Brown, NCECA Executive Secretary, at Elsie Monroe Gallery, Albion College. Box 1677, Bandon, Oregon 97411. Michigan, Detroit March 5—April 23 Diana North Carolina, Asheboro March 4—6 “7th Kulisek; at Pewabic Pottery, Stratton Gallery, North Carolina Potters Conference,” with pre­ 10125 East Jefferson Avenue. senters Svend Bayer and Elaine Levin, as well as Michigan, Farmington Hills March 5-26 John Stanley Anderson, Sid Oakley, Ben Owen III and Chalke; at Habatat/Shaw Gallery, 32255 North­ Dina Wilde-Ramsing. Contact the Randolph Arts western Highway, #25. Guild, W. H. Moring Jr. Arts Center, 123 Sunset Minnesota, Saint Joseph through March 25 Sister Avenue, Box 1033, Asheboro 27204; or tele­ Dennis Frandrup, sculpture; at the Benedicta Art phone (919) 629-0399. Center, College of Saint Benedict. North Carolina, Winston-Salem June 9-12 “Craft New York, NewYor\t April 6-May 4Barry Bartlett, scultpure; at Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich Send announcements of conferences, exhibitions, ju­ House Pottery, 16 Jones Street. ried fairs, workshops and other events at least two Ohio, Delaware April 5-29 Joe Bova; at Ohio months before the month of opening (add one month Wesleyan University, Lynn Mayhew Gallery, for listings in July; two months for those in August) to Humphreys Art Hall. Calendar, Ceramics Monthly, Post Office Box 12788, Oklahoma, Norman through March 20 Eddie Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788; or telephone (614) Dominguez, ceramics and mixed media; at the 488-8236. Fax announcements to (614) 488-4561. Firehouse Art Center, 444 South Flood.

72 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 73 Calendar smith, Todd Paden and Jerry Wilson; at Rhino Gallery, 333 Canal, Canal Place. Massachusetts, Boston through March 6 “Their Own Voices: Japanese American Ceramists,” works Oregon, Coos Bay March 4-April 24 “David by Hiroshi Nakayama, Kyoko Toneqawa and Shaner; A Potter’s Work: 1963-1993”; at Coos Makoto Yabe; at the Society of Arts and Crafts, Art Museum, 235 Anderson Avenue. 175 Newbury Street. Oregon, Portland through March 31 Roberta Massachusetts, Ipswich March 5-April24“Cov- Laidman; at Made with Clay Gallery, Georgies ered Containers”; at Ocmulgee Pottery and Gal­ Ceramic and Clay Company, 756 N.E. Lombard. lery, 317 High Street-Route 1A. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia March 2-27 Etta Michigan, Detroit March 5-April 23 Works by Winigrad, “Small Wonders”; at Muse Gallery, 60 Mary Kelton Seyfarth, Bruce Winn and Paula North Second Street. Winokur; at Pewabic Pottery, 10125 East Jeffer­ March 4-27 Czeslaw Podlesny, sculpture; at the son Avenue. Clay Studio, 139 North Second Street. Michigan, East Lansing through March 31 “Bo­ Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh through April 6 Mary tanical Ceramics,” works by Terry Erickson Brown Barringer, new work. March 4-May 4 EvaKwong, and Bonnie J. Gordon; at Mackerel Sky, Gallery sculpture. March 11-May 11 Susan Boyce, stone­ of Contemporary Craft, Ann Street Plaza, 217 ware. April 8-June 8 James Shipman; at the Clay Ann Street. Place, 5416 Walnut Street. Michigan, Farmington Hills March “Mid- March 4-26 David Shaner, wood-fired contain­ Century Italian Ceramics: Gambone, Fantoni and ers; at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, 1815 Met­ Other Master Modernists”; at Habatat/Shaw ropolitan Street. Gallery, 32255 Northwestern Highway, #25. Texas, Albany March 20-May 29 Michael J. Minnesota, Saint Paul March 11-April 29 Magoto, ceramics and drawings, “The 1994 “Teacher as Mentor,” with works by Aurore Emerging Artist Exhibition”; at the Old Jail Art Chabot, Chris Gustin and Suze Lindsay; at the Center, Highway Six, South. Northern Clay Center, 2375 University Ave., W. Virginia, Richmond April 1-May 27 David Montana, Great Falls through March 20 “Archie Wright; at the Hand Workshop, Virginia Center Bray Foundation: A Ceramic Tradition”; at Paris for the Craft Arts, 1812 West Main Street. Gibson Square Museum of Art, 1400 First Ave­ nue, North. Group Ceramics Exhibitions New Mexico, Las Cruces March 6—28 “From the Ground Up XIII”; at Branagan Cultural Center. Arizona, Phoenix March 6-20 Pottery exhibi­ New York, Alfred through March 28 “Fifty Years tion; at Heritage Square, 115 North Sixth Street. ofMFA Ceramic Art at Alfred, 1943-1993,” works Arizona, Scottsdale March 1-26 “Less than Life by Val Cushing, Ken Ferguson, Vivika Heino, Size: The Figure in Clay”; at Joanne Rapp Gal­ Joel Philip Myers, Susan Peterson, Theodore lery/The Hand and the Spirit, 4222 North Randall, Don Reitz, Daniel Rhodes, David Shaner Marshall Way. and Robert Turner. April 7—June 20 “Ceramics California, Davis March 31-May 1 “Eighth An­ Just Uncrated”; at the Museum of Ceramic Art at nual Thirty Ceramic Sculptors”; at John Natsoulas Alfred, New York State College of Ceramics at Gallery, 140 F Street. Alfred University, Harder Hall, Fifth Floor. April 1-30“ 1994 California Clay Competition”; New York, New York through March 23 “Artists at the Artery, 207 G Street. on Their Own”; at Jane Hartsook Gallery, Green­ California, Riverside April 2-May “California wich House Pottery, 16 Jones Street. Collegiate Ceramic Competition”; at Riverside Ohio, Cleveland March 4-31 Exhibition ofworks Community College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue. by Marty Hart, Sandy Shaw and Thomas Wiggins; California, San Francisco through March 13 “Thai at American Crafts Gallery, 13010 Larchmere. Ceramics: The James and Elaine Connell Collec­ Ohio, Rio Grande March 1-12 Works by faculty tion”; at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and graduate students of Ohio University; at Magnin Gallery, Golden Gate Park. University of Rio Grande, Esther Allen Greer Connecticut, New Britain March 20-April 17 Museum. “Clay Today”; at the Art League of New Britain, Ohio, Wooster March 28—April /^“Functional 30 Cedar Street. Ceramics Invitational”; at the Wayne Center for D.C., Washington through September 5 “Con­ the Arts, 237 South Walnut Street. temporary Porcelain from Japan”; at Arthur M. Pennsylvania, Lancaster April 30-May 26 “Sec­ Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. ond Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National”; Kansas, Baldwin City April 6-24“V\rsx. Interna­ at Market House Craft Center, Queen and Vine tional Cone Box Show”; at Baker University, 618 streets. Eighth Street. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia March 4—27 Exhibi­ Louisiana, Baton Rouge through March 31 “3000 tion ofworks by Mary Jo Bole and Aurore Chabot. Years of Chinese Ceramic Art from the House of April 1-24 “The Clay Studio Resident Artists,” Benevolent Learning”; at Louisiana State Univer­ works by Barbara Botting, Mark Derby, Jeff Kaller, sity Union Gallery, between South Campus Drive Mark Lueders, Sumi Maeshima, Deborah Moore, and Highland Road. Kevin Mullavey, Neil Patterson, Sandi Pierantozzi, Louisiana, New Orleans March 1—26“Only Clay”; David Wright and Sybille Zeldin; at the Clay at Hall-Barnett Gallery, 320 Exchange Alley. Studio, 139 North Second Street. March 5-April24 “Cross-Cultural Clay”; “Mod­ Pennsylvania, West Chester March 25—April 30 ern Japanese Studio Ceramics in American Col­ “Spring Fantasy”; at the Potters Gallery at Some­ lections”; and “100 Years of Ceramic Art at thing for All Seasons, 39 South High Street. Newcomb, 1894-1994: A Faculty Retrospective”; Texas, San Angelo April 14-May 29 “Ninth at the New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, 1 Annual San Angelo National Ceramic Competi­ Collins Diboll Circle. tion”; at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, March 21-April8“Archie Bray Foundation Bene­ 704 Burgess Street. fit Exhibition”; at Gallery I O, 1812 Magazine St. Texas, San Antonio March 1-31 “Texas Clay II March 24-31 “Eleven Louisiana Potters,” works Exhibition,” works by 24 Texas artists; at Univer­ by Rocky Broome, Lucianne Carmichael, Ellin sity of Texas-San Antonio, 6900 North Loop Egan, Annie Hendrix, John Hodge, Robert Horan, 1604 West. Kathy Hosking, Chris Menconi, Scott Messer- Utah, Logan through March 20 “Plates ’n Platters:

74 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 75 Calendar Indiana, Indianapolis April 10-June 12 “Ameri­ can Arts and Crafts: Virtue in Design”; at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 W. 38th St. Iowa, Ames March 5-April24“Clay, Paper, Wood, Ceramics from the Permanent Collection”; at Metal and Glass Exhibition”; at Octagon Center Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State for the Arts, 427 Douglas Avenue. University, 650 North 1100 East. Iowa, Sioux City April 23—June 12“ 52nd Annual Virginia, Williamsburg through March 18 “The Juried Exhibition”; at Sioux City Art Center, 513 Best Is Not Too Good for You: English Slip- Nebraska Street. Decorated Earthenware”; at the Southeast Gal­ Kansas, Wichita March 1-31 “Art Show at the lery, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Dog Show”; at the Foyer Gallery, Century II South England Street, Colonial Williamsburg. Convention Center. Wisconsin, Green Bay through April 17“ Formed April 8—10 “Art Show at the Dog Show”; at the and Fired: A Ceramics Invitational,” works by Sunflower Cluster Dog Shows, Kansas Coliseum. Paul Donhauser, Joyce Fritz, Curt Heuer, Tom Kentucky, Louisville March 11—April 22 “Afri­ Krueger, Marjorie Mau, Jeana Jaeger McGivern, can-American Craft National”; at the Kentucky George Ouimette and Chris Tennis; at the Neville Art and Craft Gallery, 609 West Main Street. Public Museum of Brown County, 210 Museum Louisiana, Lafayette March 8-April 8 “National Place. Juried Competition for Original 2- and 3-Dimen- Wisconsin, Oshkosh March 6-April 16“Creative sional Art”; at Lafayette Art Gallery, 700 Lee Ave. Clays: American Art Pottery from the New Or­ Maryland, Towson March 11 —April 9 “Mid-At­ leans Museum of Art”; at the Paine Art Center and lantic Crafts Exhibition”; at the Holtzman Gal­ Arboretum, l4lOAlgoma Boulevard. lery, Towson State University. New Jersey, Millburn April 23-May 21 “Spring Showcase 1994,” with ceramic sculpture by Carryl Ceramics in Multimedia ExhibitionsBrown; at Sheila Nussbaum Gallery, 341 Millburn Arizona, Mesa through March 19 “Punchline”; at Avenue. the Mesa Arts Center, 155 North Center. New Jersey, Montclair through June 19 “Physical Arizona, Tempe April22-June 19 “Brooches”; at Objects, Spiritual Inspirations: Native American the Tempe Arts Center, Mill Ave. and First St. Women, Their Art and Their Legacy”; at the Arkansas, Little Rock April 10-May 8 “Regional Montclair Art Museum, 3 S. Mountain Ave. Craft Biennial”; at the Arkansas Arts Center, New Jersey, Newark through June 30 “Treasures Ninth and Commerce streets. from the Korean Collection”; at the Newark Mu­ California, Berkeley April 1-30 “Images and seum, 49 Washington Street. Objects ’94”; at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck New York, Albany through May 15 “Working Avenue. with Tradition”; at the New York State Museum, California, Castro Valley March 7-April 1 “On Empire State Plaza. View,” four-person exhibition with ceramic sculp­ New York, New York through March 5 “Guides ture by Cathy Jones; at the Adobe Art Gallery, Along the Noble Path: The Buddhist Disciple of 20935 San Miguel Avenue. China, Japan and Tibet”; at E &C J Frankel, 1040 California, Newport Beach March 12—June 5 Madison Avenue. “Contemporary Crafts and the Saxe Collection”; April7-29“The Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild 36th at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, 850 San National Open Juried Exhibition”; at Westbeth Clemente Drive. Gallery, 55 Bethune Street. California, Sacramento March 16-April 15 “Ma­ New York, Rochester April 2—May 15 “52nd trix International ’94”; at Matrix Gallery, 1725 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition”; at Memorial I Street. Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 500 D.C., Washington through April I7“KPMG Peat University Avenue. Marwick Collection of American Craft: A Gift to North Carolina, Asheville through April 13 “Craft the Renwick Gallery”; at the Renwick Gallery, of the Carolinas”; at the Folk Arts Center, Asheville National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Arts Center. Institution. North Carolina, Charlotte through March 13 through May 15 “Korean Arts of the Eighteenth “Classical Taste in America, 1800-1840”; at the Century: Splendor and Simplicity”; at Arthur M. Mint Museum of Art, 2730 Randolph Road. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. March 20-April 30 “Craft of the Carolinas”; at Florida, Tampa through March 31 “Black White Spirit Square. Bold: Variations on a Theme”; at Artists Unlim­ North Carolina, Greensboro April 16—June 11 ited Gallery, 223 North 12th Street. “Craft of the Carolinas”; at the Green Hill Art Georgia, Atlanta through May 31,1.9.95 “Atlanta’s Center, 200 North Davie Street. Consummate Collector: Philip Trammell Shutze”; North Dakota, Minot March 6—April 17 “17th at Atlanta History Center, 3101 Andrews Drive, Annual National Juried Exhibition”; at Minot Art Northwest. Gallery, Minot Art Association, North Dakota Hawaii, Honolulu April 2-30 “Multi-Media State Fairgrounds. Miniatures Exhibit”; at the Waimanu Street Gal­ Ohio, Cincinnati through April 17 “The Arts and lery, 901 Waimanu Street. Crafts Movement in California: Living the Good Illinois, Chicago March 18—April26Two-person Life”; at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Eden Park. exhibition with ceramics by Les Lawrence; at Ohio, Columbus April 10-June 6 “The Best of Schneider Gallery, 230 West Superior Street. 1994”; at the Ohio Craft Museum, 1665 West April23-June 19“Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Fifth Avenue. Art of Latin America”; at the Field Museum, Ohio, Mansfield March 13-April 24 “All-Ohio Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. Juried Art Exhibition”; at the Ohio State Univer­ Illinois, Quincy March 26-April 29 “44th An­ sity at Mansfield, Pearl Conard Art Gallery. nual Quad-State Juried Exhibition”; at the Quincy Pennsylvania, Jenkintown through March 31 “An­ Art Center, 1515 Jersey. cient Sources: Contemporary Forms,” sculpture Indiana, Evansvillethrough May 31 “The Indiana garden exhibition with an adobe structure by Decade, 1814-1824; Industries, Crafts and Prod­ Nicholas Kripal; at Abington Art Center, 515 ucts of the Harmony Society”; at the Scholle Meetinghouse Road. House, New Harmony State Historic Site, corner Pennsylvania, West Chester through March 7 of Tavern and Brewery streets. “Glaze and Glass Exhibition”; at the Potters Gal-

76 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 77 Calendar Texas, San Antonio April 16—17 “Fiesta Arts Fair”; at the Southwest Craft Center, 300 Au­ gusta. Virginia, Blacksburg April 15—17 “23rd Annual lery at Something for All Seasons, 39 South High Brush Mountain Arts and Crafts Fair”; at Rector Street. Fieldhouse, Virginia Tech campus. Tennessee, Gatlinburg through May 14 “Myths: Wisconsin, Stevens Point April 77“22nd Annual New Form, New Function”; at Arrowmont School Festival of the Arts”; at the University of Wiscon- of Arts and Crafts, 556 Parkway. sin-Stevens Point, Fine Arts Building. Tennessee, Nashville April 23—June ^“The Best of Tennessee Crafts”; at the Parthenon Gallery, Centennial Park. Workshops Texas, Beaumont March 5—31 “Tri-State Plus California, Concow April 10—15 “Wood-fire Art Exhibition”; at the Beaumont Art League, Workshop” with Nolan Babin, firing a 200-cu- Brown and Scurlock galleries, 2675 Gulf Street. bic-foot kiln. Participants must bring bisqued, Texas, San Antonio March 10-May /“Collabo­ Cone 10 ware. Fee: $200, includes materials, rative Works,” featuring works by visiting artists; firing and lodging. Contact Nolan Babin, 13191 at the Southwest Craft Center, 300 Augusta. Mullen Way, Oroville (Concow), California Virginia, Danville through March 6 “Touch: Be­ 95965; or telephone (916) 534-9137. yond the Visual”; at Danville Museum of Fine California, Davenport April 21 and 24 “Inter- Arts and History, 975 Main Street. Tidal Tile Making and Beach Pit Fire/Salmon Virginia, Newport News March 12—May 8 Bake” with Mathers Rowley. Fee: $100. Limited “Touch: Beyond the Visual”; at Peninsula Fine space; advanced registration only. Contact Tile Arts Center. Heritage, Box 1850, Healdsburg, California West Virginia, Huntington through March 6 95448; or telephone (707) 431-8453. “Honed from the Heart: West Virginia Craft,” California, Rancho Cucamonga March 5 A ses­ including ceramics by Joseph Lung; at the Hun­ sion with Lana Wilson. Fee: $25, includes lunch. tington Museum of Art, 2033 McCoy Road. Contact Chaffey College, 5885 North Haven Avenue, Rancho Cucamonga 91701; or telephone (909) 941-2776. Fairs, Festivals and Sales California, San Jose March 18-19 “If It Doesn’t Alabama, Birmingham April29-30 “Magic City Matter, It’s Only Public Art,” lecture (March 18) Art Connection”; at Linn Park. and workshop (March 19) with Jack Mackie and Arizona, Phoenix March 19-20 “Outdoor Pot­ Mark Spitzer. For further information, contact tery Fair”; at Heritage Square, 115 N. Sixth St. the San Jose Museum of Art, 110 South Market Arizona, Scottsdale through March 27 “Fourth Street, San Jose 95113; or telephone (408) 294- Annual Scottsdale Celebration of Fine Art”; on 2787. Or telephone the Art in Public Places the northwest corner of Scottsdale Road and High­ Program, City of San Jose Office of Cultural land Avenue. Affairs, (408) 277-5144. California, San Francisco March 18-20 “Con­ Colorado, Durango March 26-27A session with temporary Crafts Market”; at the Pavilions at Fort Svend Bayer. Contact Kay and Scott Roberts, Mason, Buchanan and Marina boulevards. Quien Sabe Pottery, 4246 CR 203, Durango D.C., Washington April 14-17 “12th Annual 81301; or telephone (303) 247-3393. Smithsonian Craft Show”; at the Andrew W. Colorado, Westminster April 15—1 ^Demonstra­ Mellon Auditorium, 1301 Constitution Avenue, tion of throwing and glazing with Cynthia Bringle. Northwest. Fee: $50. For further information, contact City of Florida, Gainesville April 9-10 “25th Annual Westminster, City Park Recreation Center, 10455 SFCC [Santa Fe Community College] Spring Arts Sheridan Avenue, Westminster 80020; or tele­ Festival”; on First Street between Second and phone (303) 460-9690. Eighth avenues, downtown. Connecticut, Brookfield March 5—6 “Ceramic Florida, Islamorada March 19-20 “15th Annual Commissions” with Elizabeth MacDonald. Con­ Islamorada Rain Barrel Arts Festival”; at the Rain tact Brookfield Craft Center, Box 122, Brookfield Barrel, 86700 Overseas Highway. 06804; or telephone (203) 775-4526. Florida, New Smyrna Beach March 12—13 “Im­ Connecticut, Middletown March 14—16 Hands- ages: A Festival of the Arts”; at Riverside Park. on workshop with Woody Hughes. Fee: $110. Georgia, Atlanta March 26-27 “ACC Craft Fair March 26-27 Lecture and demonstration with Atlanta”; at the Georgia Dome. Makoto Yabe. Fee: $75. Contact the Wesleyan Maine, Damariscotta/ulj/23“Fifth Annual Juried Potters, 350 South Main Street, Middletown Crafts Fair and Portland Symphony Orchestra 06457; or telephone (203) 347-5925. ‘Concert on the Lawn’”; at the Round Top Center Florida, Saint Petersburg May 21—22 “Pots with for the Arts, Business Route 1. Purpose” with Vincent Sansone. Contact the Arts Maryland, Gaithersburg April 15-17“Sugarloaf Center, 100 Seventh Street, South, Saint Peters­ Craft Festival”; at the Montgomery County Fair­ burg 33701; or telephone (813) 822-7872. grounds. Indiana, Indianapolis May 6-7 A session with Maryland, Timonium April 29—May 1 “Sugarloaf David Stabley. Fee: $65. Limited space. Contact Craft Festival”; at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. American Art Clay Company, 4717 West 16th Minnesota, Saint Paul April 15-17“ACC Craft Street, Indianapolis 46222; or telephone (317) Fair Saint Paul”; at the Saint Paul Civic Center. 244-6871 (Indiana) or (800) 374-1600. New Jersey, Tinton Falls April 16-20 “24th Iowa, Davenport April 13-15 Slide presentation, Annual Monmouth Festival of the Arts”; at the lecture and workshop on collaborative, large-scale Monmouth Reform Temple, 332 Hance Avenue. works with Tony Hepburn. For further informa­ New York, Great Neck May 1 “ 16th Great Neck tion, contact Davenport Museum of Art, 1737 Celebrates Crafts”; along Middle Neck Road. West 12th Street, Davenport 52804; or telephone New York, Long Island April 8-10 “10th Annual (319) 326-7804. Spring Fling Crafts Festival”; at Nassau Coli­ New York, New York March 2 and 19 “Basketry seum. for Potters” with Nancy Moore Bess. Fee: $45; Texas, Round Top April 9—10 “27th Annual YWCA members, $35. March 13 “A Personal Spring Festival and 19th Texas Crafts Exhibi­ Dialogue with Clay” with Susan Eisen. Fee: $80; tion”; at the Winedale Historical Center. YWCA members, $65. Contact the YWCA of the

78 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 79 Calendar

City of New York, 610 Lexington Avenue, New York 10022; or for information and catalog, tele­ phone (212) 735-9731; to register, telephone (212) 735-3335. May 21-22 “The Vessel: Synthesis of Painting and Sculpture” with Matt Nolen. Fee: $75. Con­ tact ArtWorks, West Side YMCA, 5 West 63rd Street, New York 10023; or telephone (212) 875- 4129. New York, Troy A/arc/; 5“Functional Ceramics,” demonstration, discussion and slide presentation with James Sankowski. For further information, contact Dennis Smith, Hudson River Clay Fac­ tory, 621 River Street, Troy 12180; or telephone (518) 274-2722. North Carolina, Brasstown March 6-12“Wheel Throwing” with Lee Davis. March 20-26“Color­ ful Porcelain—3D Paintings and Prints” with Marcia Bugg. April 10-16 “Handbuilding and Slab Construction” with Judy Robkin. April 17- 30 “Feeding the Fire” with Kevin Crowe. May 8— 7^“New Techniques in Handbuilding” with Bar­ bara Joiner. Contact John C. Campbell Folk School, Route 1, Box 14A, Brasstown 28902; or telephone (800) FOLK SCH. North Carolina, Penland March 14-May 6 “Learning Through Making” with Douglass Rankin and Will Ruggles. Contact Penland School of Crafts, Penland 28765; or telephone (704) 765-2359, or fax (704) 765-7389. Ohio, Wooster April 14-7(5 “Functional Ceram­ ics Workshop,” slide lectures, discussions and demonstrations with Svend Bayer and Charlie Lisk; as well as discussions on face jugs with Merrill Oxley; behind-the-scenes of jury sessions with Greg Phelps and Hal Stevens; and flexibility, strengthening and aerobic activity with Claudia Zeber. Fee: $100; students, $50. Contact Phyllis Blair Clark, 102 Oakmont Court, Wooster 44691; or telephone (216) 345-7576, evenings. Pennsylvania, Doylestown August 29-Nov ember 18 “Apprentice Workshops,” include learning tile/mosaic making, mold work, glaze application, saggar firing and cement installation. Limited to three participants. Registration deadline: June 1. Applicants must submit a resume with cover let­ ter, 10 slides, artist’s statement and 2 letters of recommendation. Contact Apprentice Program, Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, 130 Swamp Road, Doylestown 18901. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia March 11 Lecture with Mary Jo Bole and Aurore Chabot. Location: Philadelphia Museum of Art. March 12-13Work­ shop with Aurore Chabot. Fee: $ 110; Clay Studio members, $95. Contact the Clay Studio, 139 North Second Street, Philadelphia 19106; or tele­ phone (215) 925-3453. Pennsylvania, State College April 29-May 1 “Building with Paperclay” with Jerry Caplan. All skill levels. Fee: $120, includes materials. Contact Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, Box 820, Richboro, Pennsylvania 18954; or telephone (814) 231-0565. Tennessee, Smithville March 9 “Bas Relief Tile Making” with George Mason. April 23 “English Folk Pottery” with Svend Bayer. Contact Appala­ chian Center for Crafts, Route 3, Box 430, Smithville 37166; or telephone (615) 597-6801. Virginia, Richmond March 5-6“Garment Con­ struction Techniques in Clay/Saggar Firing Work­ shop” with Jim Lawton. Fee: $90; members, $85. April 9 “Thrown and Altered: Ceramic Work­ shop” with David Wright. Fee: $35; members, $30. For further information, contact the Hand Workshop, Virginia Center for the Craft Arts,

80 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 81 Calendar

1812 West Main Street, Richmond 23220; or telephone (804) 353-0094. West Virginia, Ripley March 4-6“ 14th Annual Potters Gathering” with Steven Hill and Ellen Shankin. Contact the Crafts Center, Cedar Lakes, Ripley 25271; or telephone (304) 372-7873. International Events Canada, British Columbia, VancouverMarch 11-June 22 “Screams with Laughter: Storytelling in Northwest Craft” at the Canadian Craft Mu­ seum, 639 Hornby Street. Canada, Ontario, Toronto March 3-May 1 Jen­ nifer Elion retrospective; at the Craft Gallery, Ontario Crafts Council, Chalmers Building, 35 McCaul Street. March 6-July 31 “News from a Radiant Future: Soviet Porcelain from the Collection of Craig H. and Kay A. Tuber”; at George R. Gardiner Mu­ seum of Ceramic Art, 111 Queen’s Park. April 15-August 28 “Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain”; at the Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. England, Chichester March 4—6 “Master Potter Series 2: Handbuilt Raku” with David Roberts. April3-8 “Pottery” with Alison Sandeman. April 10—15 “Improve Your Handbuilding in Stone­ ware and Porcelain” with Gordon Cooke. Con­ tact the College Office, West Dean College, West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex POl8 0QZ; or telephone (24) 363 301. England, London March 9-April /Exhibition of ceramics by Ewen Henderson. April 13-May 13 Exhibition of ceramics by Jim Malone; at Galerie Besson, 15 Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street. England, Manchester through April 24 “The American Way: Views on Use in Contemporary American Ceramics”; at the Manchester City Art Gallery, Mosley Street. England, Oxford through March 16 Exhibition of ceramics by Jim Malone. March 21-April 20 Exhibition of ceramics by Beate Andersen; at Oxford Gallery, 23 High Street. through April 10 “The Raw and the Cooked: New Work in Clay in Britain”; at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 30 Pembroke Street. Japan, Shigaraki March 20—June 5 Exhibition of ceramics by Adrian Saxe; at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Museum of Contemporary Ce­ ramic Art. Netherlands, Deventer March 6—April 2 Three- person exhibition including ceramics by Peter Beard and Antje Wiewinner. April 10-May 6 Exhibition of ceramics by Gilbert Portanier; at Loes and Reinier, Korte Assenstraat 15. Netherlands, Haarlem March 1-April30 Exhibi­ tion of ceramics by Celia Cymbalista; at the Lieven de Key Gallery. Netherlands, Maastricht March 12—20 “The Eu­ ropean Fine Art Fair”; at the Maastricht Exhibi­ tion and Congress Centre. Netherlands, Oosterbeek through March 14 Ex­ hibition of pottery by Resi Arts, Karin Jarvinen and Babs Thissen. March 20-April 18 Ceramics and paintings by Johnny Rolf; at Galerie Am­ phora, Van Oudenallenstraat 3. Netherlands, ’s-Hertogenbosch through March 13 Exhibition of ceramics and jewelry by Daniel Kruger. March 26-May 8 “Artist’s Crockery”; at Het Kruithuis, Municipal Museum of Contem­ porary Art, Citadellaan 7. Scotland, Aberdeen March 5-April 2 “Jennifer Lee: Handbuilt Ceramics 1979-1994”; at Aber­ deen Art Gallery, Schoolhill.

82 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 83 Suggestions From Readers

Conserving Table Space When Glazing I never used to have enough shelf or table space when glazing, especially for flat things. But now I use Styrofoam peanuts—the square or rectangular ones—as temporary stilts. They’re strong enough to stack plates, but so soft they won’t mar the glaze. Just remember to separate the stacked ware for firing!—Bette Drake, Cleveland

Heat Lamp Drying A drying box is handy not only for hard­ ening freshly thrown or handbuilt clay quickly, but also for speed drying glazes or heating already fired ware for reglazing. My 8-foot-

long drying box is made of ¾-inch plywood, backed by a plaster wall, but open at the front for easy use with large forms. Installed at the top are eight heat lamp bulbs (purchased from a hardware wholesale distributorship for about $3 each). These screw into simple porcelain light fixtures wired to a single switch. A second tier requires another set of heat lamps and a separate switch. Even with con­ stant use, I replace only about six bulbs a year.—Daleene Menning, Coopersville, Mich.

Chopstick Armatures Throw-away chopsticks from Oriental restaurants make excellent armatures for small sculpture. Wlien making life-size busts or quarter-scale figures, the neck of the person (or animal) tends to lean forward because of the weight of the clay mass. To avoid this, we drive a chopstick from the top of the head straight down the spine. Usually one stick is enough, but we have used up to three sticks. After the clay stiffens, we hollow out the bust or figure. The chopstick is removed at that point because leather-hard clay alone can hold the form in place. Sometimes, however,

84 CERAMICS MONTHLY the chopstick is simply left in; it burns out sponge should wash away all the tarnish. Of course, no two potters produce the during the bisque firing. Matt surfaces, however, are more difficult same raku lusters. Always test a small area There are several guidelines to follow whenand usually require some scrubbing. before using any cleaning agent.—Clifford using chopstick armatures: 1) the sticks should If your raku surfaces are merely dirty, an Crooks, Paso Robles, Calif. be less than ¾ inch in diameter; 2) insert the all-purpose cleaner such as 409 works well. stick so that there is at least ¾ inch of clay J ust spray it on and wipe off with a soft towel;Dollars for Your Ideas between it and the surface to avoid cracking;do not rinse. Ceramics Monthly pays $10for each sugges­ 3) if the chopstick is to be removed, leave My customers receive these cleaning in­ tion published; submissions are welcome indi­ about 1 inch of the thick end projecting fromstructions with every piece I sell, as well as thevidually or in quantity. Include an illustration the surface; 4) if the figure is to be fired with following tips: 1) Keep all raku lusters away or photo to accompany your suggestion and we the chopstick still inside, drive the end of thefrom sunlight, the main culprit in luster will pay $10 more if we use it. Mail ideas to stick below the surface. tarnish; atmosphere is secondary to sunlight. Suggestions, Ceramics Monthly, Post Office Box With solid clay pieces, there is a high risk 2) If possible, display lustered ware in a glass 12788, Columbus, Ohio 43212-0788; or fax of explosion from steam, so be sure the bodycase; this way, it may be years before any to (614) 488-4561. Sorry, but we cant ac­ is really dry, then fire it slowly. tarnish appears. knowledge or return unused items. If you don’t already have any disposable chopsticks and want to buy some at import stores or Oriental restaurants, get the thin­ nest kind you can find. I prefer ½ inch in diameter. Also be sure to buy the kind made from wood or bamboo, which will shrink during drying and minimize the danger of the clay cracking. Another alternative is to buy hardwood dowels at hardware stores. The ½-inch-di- ameter dowel comes in 3-foot lengths, which can be cut into shorter pieces for use as sculpture armatures.—William Chow, Tuc­ son, Ariz.

Easy Wadding Wadding pots to keep them from sticking to the shelvesin salt and wood firings is a time-consuming distraction while loading the kiln. If the wadding is dabbed with a small amount of white glue prior to sticking it to the pot, it’s possible to wad the bottoms of all the pots before loading. The glue keeps the wadding in place during loading, but burns off in the firing. This is particularly useful when loading kilns in freezing weather.— Lester Chates, Helena, Mont.

Substitute Lamp Wicking The craft fair starts the next day, and you’re out of bead lamp wicking. What do you do? Just run down to the hardware store and buy a heavy-duty cotton mop head. A weaver friend tells me she buys mop cotton in rolls of 100 feet or more. I tell my lamp customers they never have to worry about finding replacement wicking.—Ed Bussard, Dove Creek, Colo.

Renewing Raku Surfaces Raku lusters that have tarnished over the years can be cleaned as easily as sterling silver. Now don’t get me wrong; not all raku lusters tarnish. But for those that do, simply pur­ chase a bottle of concentrated lemon juice (such as ReaLemon) at your grocery store and sponge it over the tarnished piece. If the luster is a gloss or semigloss, one swipe with the

March 1994 85 Glaze Software Glasure can be purchased directly Continued from page 53 from Ulrik Krabbe, Ndr Strandvej 50, DK 3000 Helsingoer, Denmark. The cost is US$60. Specify disk size. for this kind of program. It also does not automatically derive the recipe from Ceramic Utilities a formula. Having been spoiled in that A quick and lean approach best de­ regard by the other two programs, I felt scribes the three programs that make that to be a serious shortcoming. There up American potter Richard Zakins free is also no way to store recipes. Ceramic Utilities. Written together with The program and series of articles his programming colleague John Kane are available directly from David Hewitt, in the computer language Basic, Zakins 7 Fairfield Road, Caerleon, Newport, programs function on the smallest and Gwent NP6 1DQ, England. The cost slowest of computers with speed and of the program, along with the series of ease. Ceramic Review articles, is £21.00 (ap­ The first of this trio calculates the proximately US$31.00). The cost of percentage analysis from a recipe. The Glazes alone is £10.50 (approximately second assists in going from the percent US$ 16.00). Specify disk size. chemical analysis to the recipe. The third program, which he calls Describe, Glasure should be called The Wizard. In De­ The Danish program Glasure by scribe, Zakin has distilled the funda­ Ulrik Krabbe stands alone in its de­ mental role of each glaze material into a lightfully unique approach to glaze cal­ collection of descriptive statements that culation. Krabbe, a retired electrical the program tailors to each recipe. engineer, has developed a system for The programs come with analyses of calculating the viscosity coefficient 33 materials. Before entering a recipe (VISCO, as he calls it). Like the others, you are prompted to add any additional his program calculates the standard unity material names and analyses, if the in­ formula and gives a percentage analysis gredients are not a part of the original of the component oxides. Then it goes list. Because the maximum number of an important step further. Taking into materials is 40 and the original list can­ account that some melters are more ag­ not be changed, the number of new gressive than others, it assigns a value to ingredients that can be used is limited. the individual melters and stabilizers. Fifteen oxides are used in the calcula­ Basing his calculations on known tions, but more can be added—up to a glaze formulas, Krabbe has developed total of 18. melting or viscosity coefficients for each Formulas must be entered as per­ of the oxides. A normally mature glaze centages. The calculation of the per­ would, he suggests, have a viscosity near centage of each oxide in the glaze is 0. Glazes that are not sufficiently melted instantaneous and accurate. Missing is would have viscosities above 0, and the ability to calculate the molecular runny glazes would have viscosities be­ equivalents and to adjust to unity. low 0. Several glazes that I have tested The second program performs the confirm his results. Warnings are of­ same fast percentage analysis of oxides fered for glazes that go beyond the stan­ resulting from a given formula; how­ dard limits of proportions in glazes. ever, it counts on users knowing a fair Krabbe s program is aimed largely at amount of glaze chemistry, and being stoneware glazes. The viscosity coeffi­ willing to use trial and error to mini­ cient is calculated only between 1220°C mize the variance from the goal. Other and 1300°C (2228°F and 2372°F). programs, even free ones, make better While the cost per kilogram of each use of the computer s powerful calculat­ recipe is calculated, coefficients of ex­ ing abilities and are more helpful in pansion are not. It also does not store calculating a recipe from an analysis. recipes on a disk. The third program, Describe, takes Like the other programs, part of a bold step toward individual and inter­ Glasure s beauty is its simplicity. It comes active glaze description. It is kind of like with a brief pamphlet translated into having Zakin at your shoulder telling English. you how a specific collection of materi-

86 CERAMICS MONTHLY

Glaze Software

als is likely to interact at a given firing temperature—a marvelous tool for people who don’t have a background in glaze materials and analyses. For people with knowledge of glaze materials, however, Describe may at times seem like reading a horoscope. Some of the descriptions are so broad as to fit almost any glaze. It lacks the nar­ row limit formulas that would trigger more specific comments. The comments on one Cone 04 earthenware glaze char­ acterized it as “satin or satin shiny and due to the high silica content it would be quite durable.” The identical descrip­ tion was given for the same glaze at Cone 9. While the comments are true at one temperature, they are not at the other. Zakin is to be admired for his ex­ tremely ambitious attempt to cover such a wide temperature range. What I hope will happen, is that he will focus the program and its comment generator on more narrow temperature ranges and families of glazes. He could then write extremely specific responses to the varia­ tions from much more tightly controlled limit formulas. Describe could then be used to adjust glazes for specific prob­ lems and situations. We are now near­ ing a time when the average potter can use the computer to understand and apply the underlying concepts to solve glaze problems and generate individual formulas. Zakin asks no payment for his Ce­ ramic Utilities, only that if you do use it or expand on it that you give him credit as the author or coauthor. Like Hogg’s Glaze Calculation for the Studio Potter, it is available for $5 (to cover the cost of the disk, mailer and postage) from the Annapolis Potters Guild, Post Office Box 152, Arnold, Maryland 21012. Specify disk size. The Generator Looking at Jennifer Tobicoe’s The Generator, I’m reminded of that com­ mercial for spaghetti sauce where the customer queries the clerk about the ingredients and is told in a monotone, “It’s in there.” It seems that everything I could ever be looking for in this kind of

88 CERAMICS MONTHLY program “is in there.” But like the guy with his nose pressed up to the glass jar, I have a hard time finding it in all that sauce. Clearly, Tobicoe has put enormous effort into this program. I found myself really wanting to like it, to conclude that this was a diamond in the rough, to make it do things that are impossible with any other program. However, though it is extremely accurate and does everything that all the other programs do, it is so convoluted and slow that I can’t see myself using it. For the record, I tested this program on a very fast 386, 33 MHz IBM clone with a fast hard drive. Most glaze calculation program prob­ lems arise from the effort to be “all things to all people.” Because the Gen­ erator is based around the database Para­ dox, it’s able to store enormous amounts of information. Unfortunately, that enor­ mous amount of information is in stor­ age, and it has to look everything up. The ingredient list has 500 materi­ als. This is gargantuan. No potter or school is going to have, or ever want to have, that many materials. While it has wonderful touches, like the ability to look up materials based on a fragment of the name, it has to do that each time you want to work with a recipe. At every turn, I found the pro­ gram having to unload part of itself, load part of itself, look up something, ask me if it had done it properly, and scroll through a list of some 500 mate­ rials or compounds to find the one I wanted. I felt as though I were kicking a very slow, fat mule. Everything about the Generator is on the verge of being well thought out. Clear instructions are given for install­ ing the program onto a hard disk. The problem is that they start on page 101 of the manual, after the tutorial and full description of the program. No big card in the packet, no letter saying, “jump ahead to page 101 to install the pro­ gram,” no nothing. Similarly, the im­ pressive list of 44 oxides that the program calculates is not alphabetized, forcing you to hunt through the list. The author says that the underlying program, Paradox, is due for an update that is supposed to increase the speed tenfold. I am not sure if that would be enough. Continued

March 1994 89 Glaze Software

Now for the bright spots: This is the only program that allows for the inclu­ sion of coloring oxides in calculations. It also asks and deals with the question of whether calculations should be based on an oxidation or reduction atmo­ sphere. For iron-rich glazes, the shift from red iron oxide to black iron oxide has a profound effect on the fluxing power in a glaze. This fact is not taken into account by most programs. While the vast collection of materi­ als makes the program stodgy, it is a good reference. One game that I played and lost was to see if I could think of some major material that was not on the list. The program clearly had me beat. Another game that I have done well at with most programs is to find some mistake in the materials library, a molecular weight that was wrong, or a couple of numbers that were transposed when it was entered. No luck at that game either with the Generator. If time is not a factor, this program will accurately do all of the major glaze calculations. Plus an unlimited collec­ tion of glaze recipes can be stored and retrieved based on a variety of criteria. The only problem is that it is slow and cumbersome. The Generator is available from In­ novations and Frivolities, Post Office Box 431, Lancaster, New York 14086. The cost is $89.95, postage paid; New York residents must add 8% tax. Unless otherwise specified, 3!/2-inch disks will be sent. For simple glaze calculations, any one of these programs would serve extremely well. Each has its strengths. All of the authors frequently referred (in corre­ spondence) to the fact that computers and programs are useful tools for devel­ oping a viewpoint on glazes. They all pointed out, however, that ultimately we, as potters, must know our materi­ als, get our hands into them, mix up some glazes and fire some pots!

The authorA full-time studio potter for 18 years, Rick Malmgren also teaches part time at St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland, and at Anne Arundel Com­ munity College in Arnold, Maryland.

90 CERAMICS MONTHLY Feats of Clay VI

“Heart Space,” 20 inches “Passion,” 17½ inches in height, in height, slab-built slab-built stoneware, pit fired, $350, stoneware with slips, oxides by Paul McCoy, Waco, Texas. and gold leaf, wood, cord and wire, $850, by Sharon Top: “Untitled (Purple & Gold),” Brush, Ranchos de Taos, 24 inches in height, $250, by Diane New Mexico. Sullivan, Seattle.

Juror Patti Warashina, faculty artist at past stacks of colored pipe, to a city- saw no “distinct direction or movement” the University of Washington, selected block-long shed. Inside were 22 enor­ emerging; however, the large number 69 works from the 648 entries to the mous beehive kilns, one of which housed of entries did indicate to her “that there sixth annual “Feats of Clay” competi­ part of the exhibition. (See the April is a vast pool of young artists who can tion cosponsored by Lincoln Arts, a non- 1993 CM.) seize the opportunity to vitalize the fu­ profit association, and Gladding, From this kiln “gallery,” visitors ture American clay scene, and that there McBean & Company, an architectural walked past other kilns in various stages is a need for competitive national clay firm in Lincoln, California. As in of firing, through the finishing room exhibitions....I applaud Lincoln Arts for previous years, the selected works were where workers were sanding and glaz­ fulfilling and supporting the need, es­ exhibited at the 118-year-old factory. ing architectural ornaments, to the de­ pecially during these hard economic Tours began aboard an antique sign studio where the remainder of the times, for there are so few opportunities firetruck waiting at the factory gate to show was on display. for clay artists to have their work acces­ transport visitors across the grounds, In reviewing the slides, Warashina sible on a national level.”A

March 1994 91 Smokeless Saggar Firings by Macy Dorf Since 1968,1 have been making pottery as a full-time profes­ damper, I added a new burner with the flame directed into sion. While exploring and refining my functional line, I have the flue. This inexpensive burner, made by Gas Appliance always had a nagging desire to make one-of-a-kind decora­ Company, has a Btu range of 17,490 to 78,440 (I use tive work as well. After many years of experimenting with approximately 6 inches of water column pressure, which different forms and techniques, I became intrigued with the gives me 68,000 Btus). process of sawdust firing in saggars. And that has introduced Also, I installed a large industrial pilot because the flue new directions with challenging new problems. draft had been pulling the flames from the smaller pilots. Here in Denver, Colo­ This large pilot was made by rado, we have a problem with Killam Gas Burner Company smog during the winter and, at 6-inch pressure, has months. In an attempt to cut 4600 Btus. down on atmospheric emis­ I leave the added burner sions, city councils through­ on until the flue gets to red out the metropolitan area heat. Then, because at this have disallowed wood burn­ point the kiln is burning off ing on high-pollution days. all emissions, I turn it off and Firing sawdust saggars on plug up the hole. those days placed me in vio­ For that first firing after lation of these local ordi­ the adjustments, I started a nances. normal firing in the late af­ Although I arranged my ternoon. When I returned to firing schedule so that com­ the studio the next morning, bustion occurred around I was disheartened to find ev­ midnight, when the smog erything smelling of smoke— problem is at its lowest, a including the work area of conscientious passerby once my upstairs neighbor! How­ saw my kilns smoke late at ever, on close inspection, I night and notified the fire was relieved to see that the department. When the damper was pushed in too firemen arrived, I was called far, causing the smoke to seep to the studio—a 12-mile out of the peeps and around drive—to discuss the situa­ the door rather than through tion. Their suggestion was to the heated flue. Fortunately, change my firing schedule so all I needed to do was open that the heaviest smoke oc- § the damper to draw the curred in the early morning | smoke up the flue where it hours, closer to daylight. 8 could be burned off in a less Some time after making offensive manner. this adjustment, I began re­ An added burner at the base of the chimney plus a Escaping smoke has since ceiving angry complaints much taller stack eliminate smoke from saggar firings. been eliminated from my sag­ from my upstairs neighbor gar firings. My upstairs neigh­ informing me that the smoke smell in his studio was unbear­ bor has been completely unaware of my firing schedule, and able on certain mornings. My alternatives were to stop saw­ I can now save gas by starting a firing in the morning, dust firing, move to another city or country (my neighbor avoiding the overnight soak. Last spring a Cinco de Mayo preferred the latter), or do something to fix the problem. celebration brought 20,000 people to my studios neighbor­ Naturally, my preference was to fix it—and fast. After spend­ hood and not one person complained of either smoke or the ing a few sleepless nights worrying, I came up with the idea smell of my firing saggar. of inserting a catalytic-type chamber into the flue to burn off With these problems behind me, I can only hope that the the smoke before it reached the atmosphere. next one waits a while to crop up. The studio is back to being With some advice, I proceeded to make several chimney a working space rather than a construction zone, my upstairs alterations. The first was to increase the height of the kiln neighbor is appeased, and I am now firing saggars in an stack from 10 feet to 30 feet. Then, between the floor and environmentally better manner. ▲

92 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 93 94 CERAMICS MONTHLY March 1994 95 shot artist, not discussion of the students’ and to meet others who were interested Comment work; I have been in crits where teachers, in doing the same. But it should be pos­ who in their better moments could be sible to achieve these goals without the Poisonous Pedagogy? open-minded and warm, suddenly be­ emotional abuse that is rampant in art came small-minded tyrants; I have been schools today. by Beth Randall in crits that made me cry. Four and a half The art-school environment is filled years of art school filled me with an anger with the self-doubt, brittle egos and ten­ Recently, I was talking to an acquain­ that was extremely inhibiting to my de­ der emotions of people taking their first tance who had just subjected herself to a velopment as an artist and bad for me tentative steps toward a creative life. As in critique from a famous ceramics artist. personally. All this was in an institution any situation involving human beings, “Boy, he hated my work,” she said hap­ whose alleged purpose was to foster cre­ there’s sexual tension as well, which is pily. “He really ripped this piece to shreds. ativity and self-expression. only made worse when most of the teach­ He was kind of apologetic about it later, There are teachers who quite con­ ers are men and most of the students are but I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been out women. It’s all too easy to fall of art school a long time—it’s Art school... is a place where the students subjective into patterns where an enor­ not every day I get to have a mous male ego crowds out ev­ really brutal crit like we used to opinions, if allowed to be expressed at all, are treated erything else, especially the have in school!’” with no respect, but the teachers subjective opinions female student, or where the What’s going on here? Why golden-boy student is pampered should this woman feel privi­ are considered of paramount importance. and coddled. leged to have her work savaged Ideally, teachers in such an by another artist, no matter how famous? sciously defend this situation. They talk environment should be walking on egg­ The answer, of course, is that she has about “challenging the student,” “tearing shells in an attempt to avoid injuring the bought into the ideals that are often set the student down, then building him/her students spirit, to “first, do no harm.” forth in art school—where students are back up”; they even use classic dysfunc- They should realize that it is impossible routinely patronized, and their work tional-family arguments like “That’s what to teach self-expression, but that it may picked apart and rejected. It is a place I went through and look how well I turned be possible to create an environment where the students’ subjective opinions, out.” They seem to feel that it’s appropri­ where self-expression can be achieved if allowed to be expressed at all, are treated ate to model art-school instruction after more easily. They should try to develop with no respect, but the teachers’ subjec­ boot camp in the Marines—an institu­ an atmosphere of mutual respect and dig­ tive opinions are considered of paramount tion not known for producing artists. nity for all, a safe haven where the cre­ importance. It is a place where teachers I learned a lot in art school; the most ative spark can be nurtured, supported hand down arbitrary judgments to sub­ useful being technical information. It was and encouraged. This is the art school I missive students. a privilege to be able to spend my time wish I had attended, and that my ac­ I have been in crits where the real learning how to use the potter’s wheel, quaintance might have been better off purpose was adulation of the visiting big- how to handbuild, mix glazes, fire a kiln, attending too.

Index to Advertisers

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96 CERAMICS MONTHLY