4 Ceramics Monthly Ceramics Monthly Volume 29, Number 4 April 1981 Features Robert Turner.............................................................. 28 F. Carlton Ball: Autobiographical Notes, Part 2....................................................................... 32 Three Northwest Potters.............................................. 35 Containers .................................................................. 40 Summer Workshops 1981 .......................................... 41 Malibu Tile.................................................................. 47 Stephen DeStaebler by Elaine Levin...........................54 A Conversation with Stephen DeStaebler by Sharon Edwards ................................................ 60 Departments Letters to the Editor..................................................... 9 Answers to Questions.................................................. 11 Where to Show............................................................ 13 Itinerary....................................................................... 19 Suggestions ................................................................. 23 Comment: The Critique by Don Bendel ...................... 25 News & Retrospect ..................................................... 65 New Books.................................................................. 95 Index to Advertisers.................................................... 98 Cover “Wall Canyon,” 37 feet in height, unglazed stone­ ware, by Stephen DeStaebler, for the Embarcadero Station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, San Francisco. Handbuilt with metallic stains and oxides as an integral part of the clay body, the monumental work was fired and installed in sec­ tions. An in-depth look at this Berkeley sculptor begins on page 54. Photo: Karl H. Riek. April 1981 5 6 Ceramics Monthly Ceramics Monthly Magazine Spencer L. Davis.................... Publisher and Acting Editor William C. Hunt ..............Managing Editor Robert L. Creager .....................Art Director Barbara Harmer Tipton .............Copy Editor Carol Lefebvre Hagelee .............Asst. Editor Ruth C. Butler ...................Asst. Copy Editor Mary Rushley..............Circulation Manager Connie Belcher..... .......Advertising Manager Editorial, Advertising and Circulation Offices 1609 Northwest Boulevard, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212 (614) 488-8236 West Coast Advertising Representative: Joseph Mervish Associates, 12512 Chandler Boulevard, No. 202, North Hollywood, California 91607 (213) 877-7556 Ceramics Monthly (ISSN 009-0328) is published monthly except July and August by Profes­ sional Publications, Inc. — S. L. Davis, Pres.; P. S. Emery, Sec.: 1609 Northwest Blvd., Co­ lumbus, Ohio 43212. Correspondence con­ cerning subscriptions, renewals and change of address should be mailed to the Circulation Department, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Controlled circula­ tion postage paid at Athens, Ohio 45701. Sub­ scriptions: One year $14; Two years $26; Three years $35. Add $3 per year for sub­ scriptions outside the U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Articles in each issue ofCeramics Monthly are indexed in the Art Index. Microfische, 16mm and 35mm microfilm copies, and xerographic reprints are available to subscribers from Uni­ versity Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Manuscripts, photographs, color separa­ tions, color transparencies (including 35mm slides), graphic illustrations and news releases dealing with ceramic art are welcome and will be considered for publication. A booklet de­ scribing procedures for the preparation and submission of a manuscript is available with­ out cost to potential authors. Send manuscripts and correspondence about them to The Editor,Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Copyright © 1981 Professional Publications, Inc. All rights reserved April 1981 7 Letters February CM talked to other subscribers and we all potters who can create beautiful, func­ I really enjoyed the February issue. It agree in wanting more practical and edu­ tional pots and sculptures that can be used dealt with real people rather than super­ cational information. and admired daily in the home and at stars. [How about] more profiles on young Carolynn A. Kampen prices the average person and collector can potters, their studios, their successes and New Orleans afford. failures, as well as their work. I really don’t Otto H. Pearsall appreciate the gimmicky “how to’s” and While I realize CM strives to present a New Castle, Pa. homemade remedies. Most creative and broad spectrum of ceramic disciplines, per­ inventive people can figure things out. We haps in some cases acceptability or respect­ Share your thoughts with other readers. need the support of knowing other potters ability is given to works that are made to All letters must be signed, but names are encountering difficulties in work and be art with a big “A” and yet have noth­ will be withheld on request. Address: The environment and that they are overcoming ing, being only an ego trip for their crea­ Editor, Ceramics Monthly, Box 12448, them. tor. My admiration is for those artists/ Columbus, Ohio 43212. Linda Cargiuolo Bedford, Mass. Strictly for Production Potters Ten to fifteen years ago, CM’s format was geared more toward the average to above average hobbyist. Today the format of the magazine is strictly for the produc­ tion potter with his own earthy studio in the hills of Tennessee or Georgia. Sorry to say, I think Ceramics Monthly has lost a larger part of the population. Sandra Peck Blue Island, 111. Suggestions Supplier Some of those clever “Suggestions from Readers” help us clay suppliers, too. For instance, in addition to stocking the normal chemicals and clay, I have found that I can stay one step ahead of the competition by stocking items such as old long-playing record albums for lifting wet pots from the wheelhead, and butter (margarine, actually) for applying to handles and tea­ pot spouts. One other hot item is ladies’ hosiery for cleaning porcelain greenware. (We sell quite a few with garters still attached to the kinkier element, I might add.) We tried carrying used leather chaps for throwing aprons, but all the cowboys around here got wise and claimed there was a shortage. Then they beganto raise their prices so high that it was no longer feasible to keep them in stock. Well, keep up the good work. John Williams Dallas Subscribers’ Comments With everything being so radical in our daily lives in view of world peace, why must there be so much emphasis placed on radical potters? Kick back, be mellow. Cathie K. Morrow Salem, Ore. There is much that is of value in CM, but the celebration of gimmickry and tech­ nical tours-de-force is always depressing. Of course, if current trends are depressing, coverage of them is bound to be also. Constance Sherman Garrison, N.Y. It’s good to be exposed to out-of-the- ordinary things, but please do not dedicate the entire issue to such outlandish art. I’ve April 1981 9 10 Ceramics Monthly Questions Answered by the CM Technical Staff I’ve been experimenting with the following recipe: This is an easily formulated porcelain with good translucency and PORCELAIN BODY (Cone 9-11) color. It is a classic recipe used by many ceramists internationally. Kingman Feldspar ..................................................................... 22.0 % Nepheline Syenite ..................................................................... 6.7 A glaze Pve been using for years has started to crawl, and Kentucky Ball Clay(OM 4) ................................................. 3.3 Pm wondering if you could suggest some possible causes for Bentonite ................................................................................... 3.0 this defect.—U.S. Edgar Plastic Kaolin ................................................................. 43.5 Crawling, the pulling together of glaze into separate lumps, Silica ......................................................................................... 21.5 sometimes with exposed body between, can be the result of a variety of causes. Dust, grease or oil (from one’s skin or from 100.0% contact with food) on the bisque resists the glaze’s ability to I do not have a pug mill so I dry mix the materials first in five- adhere to the body. Glazes with substantial amounts of feldspar, gallon plastic buckets, add water, and allow the batch to soak zinc or other opacifiers may tend to crawl because large amounts undisturbed for a few months. Finally the porcelain is dried on of these materials tend to increase glaze viscosity which is at the plaster bats and then wedged to throwing consistency. The result­ heart of this defect. A batch milled too finely or applied too ing clay tends to come apart or crack while throwing. Can some­ thickly may encourage crawling. Excessive clay in the glaze may thing be added to this porcelain to make it more workable?—K.P. cause the material to shrink more than the bisque, creating fault Like many porcelain bodies, yours contains about 50% non- lines in the glaze coating which help to instigate crawling, par­ plastic materials which tend to produce the “short” working ticularly when the previously mentioned high-viscosity materials characteristics you describe. An addition of from 1 to 3% are included in the batch. macaloid will greatly increase plasticity with the body you men­ Glazes containing slightly soluble ingredients,