2 Ceramics Monthly William C. Hunt........................................ Editor Barbara Tipton...................... Associate Editor Robert L. Creager........................ Art Director Ruth C. Butler.............................. Copy Editor Valentina Rojo....................... Editorial Assistant Mary Rushley .............. Circulation Manager Connie Belcher .... Advertising Manager Spencer L. Davis.............................. Publisher Editorial, Advertising and Circulation Offices 1609 Northwest Boulevard, Box 12448, Columbus, Ohio 43212 (614) 488-8236 Ceramics Monthly (ISSN 0009-0329) is published monthly except July and August by Professional Publications, Inc.—S. L. Davis, Pres.; P. S. Emery, Sec.: 1609 North­ west Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43212. Second class postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Subscription Rates:One year $16, two years $30, three years $40. Add $5 per year for subscriptions outside the U.S.A. Change of Address:Please give us four weeks advance notice. 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All rights reserved May 1984 3 4 Ceramics Monthly Ceramics Monthly Volume 32, Number 5 May 1984 Feature Articles Three Czech Ceramists by Jiri Setlik............................................................ 26 Hobart Cowles Albany Glazes by Lili Krakowski................................................... 30 Jack Earl by Bill Buchanan..................................................... 31 George Tinworth by Peter Rose........................................................... 34 New French Ceramics by Nigel Atkins....................................................... 42 Phil Schuster 46 James Lawton............................................................. 49 Mutsuo Yanagihara by Mayumi Tsutakawa............................................ 52 Mary Frank 54 A High-Production Pottery by Janet Perry.......................................................... 55 Low-Fire Surface Effects by Diane Moomey................................................... 58 British Studio Pots .................................................... 59 Departments Letters......................................................................... 7 Suggestions 15 Where to Show 17 Questions................................................................... 19 Itinerary...................................................................... 21 Comment: Potters Never Had It So Good by Gary Hatcher...................................................... 23 News & Retrospect.................................................... 67 New Books.................................................................. 83 Classified Advertising 86 Index to Advertisers.................................................. 88 The Cover “Fire Totem” (detail), cast and handbuilt clay (the skull is approximately life size), with low-fire glazes, lusters, acrylic paint, rayon flocking, metal flake glit­ ter, by Toby Buonagurio, New York City. May 1984 5 6 Ceramics Monthly Letters Why Does a Mouse Have Hair? from my accident, but this time there was (B) who pulls on lever (S) as instructed by I found the January article “Kiln Wall numbness and weakness in both wrists. I was sign (R). Pulling on lever (S) by wino (B) Heat Loss” by Robert Schmitz quite inter­ a little worried (my living comes solely from opens gas valve (T) to kiln, thereby auto­ esting. Ten years ago on the windy Hudson selling my work, so if I can’t work I’m in matically increasing kiln temperature. River, I built a 155-cubic-foot, gas-fired, trouble, as I well knew). After reading the “Caution: Use of wino with lab rating in downdraft car kiln with K-2300 B&W in­ article and letters on CTS in CM, I decided excess of 40 proof may result in attack of sulating firebrick backed with K-2000 brick. to take Ruth Duckworth’s vitamin advice and heavy hand syndrome resulting in overheat­ I always fire to Cone 10 flat, and still get since then, my wrists are cured. ing of kiln and disastrous damage to primate within a half a cone anywhere in the kiln. Robyn Rypp (A)’s tail.” The bricks have held up for two reasons: the Toronto Terry Brown K-2300 rating means they can withstand that Anaheim, Calif. temperature 24 hours a day, and I poured 5 Kiln Firing Made Easy cubic yards of reinforced concrete for the base Along with a yearly Christmas card, I sent CM’s Comment Column and made sure every brick was absolutely my “inventor” uncle a copy of my husband’s I like the Comment section. The pieces plumb and level. I can still push the car into article about his “Fuel Saving Timer,” which offer more substantial and provocative in­ the kiln with my thumb. appeared in the April 1983 CM. We received formation than other CM articles. I espe­ One of the biggest factors in heat loss is the following information and drawing in re­ cially liked Dennis Parks’s piece in the March volume in relationship to outside surface area. turn. issue: clearly written, realistic and to the point. My teacher, Robert James, said it is the rea­ son why a mouse has lots of hair and an elephant little. Jay Lindsay Garrison, N.Y. Congratulations? Bravo to Ron Klein for his illuminating article “Legitimizing the Ashtray.” He wins the trivia prize for the March issue. Stephen Ladin Gardiner, N.Y. Hanging Previous to March 1984,1 had never heard of anyone building a salt kiln for greater “visual clarity of surface and form.” If there was any substance to this statement, I’m sure it would have been backed up visually. What could be more clear than the beau­ tiful, historically inspired fish-handled raku “To prepare system for operation attach I do not agree with writers like Bob McKay vase accompanying March’s “Collaboration” garden hose to adapter (M) and plug in ex­ (March Letters) who find articles too eso­ blurb? I realize CM was not the source of tension cord to 115-volt wall outlet. Secure teric. On the contrary, I find too many too this quotation, but I think it is responsible primate (A) into sling (U) and fasten tail thin. I would like to see more rigorous, pro­ for leaving me hanging. into tail screw adapter (D), allowing no more vocative and well-written pieces that ask for Gary Baxter than 3 inches of tail to be exposed. Oil pedal more than a once-over-lightly glance and then Silver Springs, N.Y assembly (E). Place 3½ cups of ice water into are forgotten. pot (C) and place on top of kiln under tail Shirley Johnson Many potters choose salt glazing, partic­ tip screw adapter (D). Excelsior, Minn. ularly light salting, because the glaze is made “Operating sequence: As ice water in pot from/on the surface of the ware, as opposed (C) slowly heats up to boiling point, primate Dennis Parks’s “Letter to a Young Potter” to applying glaze to ware which often soft­ (A) begins cranking on pedal mechanism (E) really bothered me. His assertion that the ens/obscures detail. That's another way to which causes tail screw adapter (D) to slowly only way a potter can support him or herself say why one might build a kiln “to salt glaze rise and thereby reduce the discomfort to the in this society is by teaching, having a hard­ the ware for greater ‘visual clarity of surface primate (A)’s tail. The raising action of the working spouse, a family legacy or making and form.} *—Ed. tail screw adapter (D) pulls on stainless steel a clever real estate deal, is not only unduly cable attached to water valve (F) and slowly negative, but untrue. A lot of my friends are Carpal Tunnel Cure opens, allowing water to enter kettle (G) which in the visual arts—potters, painters, print- About 2½ years ago I had an extremely is balanced on fulcrum (K) by weights (J). makers, jewelers or weavers—and many sup­ bad accident ice skating, where my right arm The platform on fulcrum (K) slowly tilts to­ port themselves doing their work. Some, ad­ was broken and the radial nerve severed, ward the kettle (G) and pushes finger tip mittedly, struggle to make ends meet month causing my arm to be numb and paralyzed. (H) against electric switch (L) which turns after month, but others live quite affluently. After 6 months of traction and weekly doc­