InspiringTechniques

CeramicSculpture

Ceramic Arts

HandbookSeries

Edited by Anderson Turner

i

CeramicSculpture

Edited by Anderson Turner

The American Ceramic Society600 N. Cleveland Ave., Suite 210Westerville, Ohio 43082

www.CeramicArtsDaily.org

Ceramic Arts

HandbookSeries

InspiringTechniques

CeramicSculpture

iv

Ceramic Arts Handbook

The American Ceramic Society 600 N. Cleveland Ave., Suite 210 Westerville, OH 43082

© 2009, 2011 by The American Ceramic Society, All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57498-300-5 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-57498-530-6 (PDF)

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in review.

Authorization to photocopy for internal or personal use beyond the limits of Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law is granted by The American Ceramic Society, provided that the appropriate fee is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 U.S.A., www.copyright.com. Prior to photocopying items for educational classroom use, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. This consent does not extend to copyright items for general distribution or for advertising or promotional purposes or to republishing items in whole or in part in any work in any format. Requests for special photocopying permission and reprint requests should be directed to Director, Publications, The American Ceramic Society, 600 N. Cleveland Ave., Westerville, Ohio 43082 USA.

Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. Due to differing conditions, equipment, tools, and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses, and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book. Final determination of the suitability of any information, procedure or product for use contemplated by any user, and the manner of that use, is the sole responsibility of the user. This book is intended for informational purposes only.

The views, opinions and findings contained in this book are those of the author. The publishers, editors, reviewers and author assume no responsibility or liability for errors or any consequences arising from the use of the information contained herein. Registered names and trademarks, etc., used in this publication, even without specific indication thereof, are not to be considered unprotected by the law. Mention of trade names of commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the publishers, editors or authors.

Publisher: Charles Spahr, President, Ceramic Publications Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The American Ceramic Society

Art Book Program Manager: Bill Jones

Series Editor: Anderson Turner

Graphic Design and Production: Melissa Bury, Bury Design, Westerville, Ohio

Cover Images: “Immersion 17” by Kathy Venter; (top right) “Spheres with Cross” by Barbro Åberg; (bottom right) “Floating Slabs Teapot” by Louis Marak

Frontispiece: “Spiked Log” by Mark Gordon

Contents

George McCauley: Life Experiences 1 Peter Held

Jim Koudelka: Layered Contraptions 7 Daniel Duford

Reflections on Accumulation 14 Wendy Walgate

Greg Penner: Casting Call 19 Braden Frieder

Growth in Change 23 Mark Chatterley

Adrian Arleo: Nature Studies 29 Marnie Prange

Jean-Pierre Larocque: Heads and Horses 37 Andy Nasisse

Immersion Series 44 Kathy Venter

Spraying Paper-Reinforced Clay 49 W. Lowell Baker

Paper Clay and Steel 53 Linda Mau

Barbro Åberg: Lightweight Sculpture 56 Ulla Munck Jørgensen

Gary Erickson: Organic Abstraction 61 Andrea Myklebust

Eva Kwong: Sculptural Vases 67 Kate Bonansinga

Kathleen Holmes: Dress Sculptures 71 Barbara Rizza Mellin

Slip-coated Fabric 74 Jen Champlin

Leigh Taylor Mickelson: Stacked Compositions 77 Mary K. Cloonan

Tile and Sculpture 81 Niel Amon

Right Angle Jig 87 Marcia Selsor

Sheri Leigh: Large-scale Slab Sculptures 89 Morgan Britt

Saggar-fired Sculptures 96 Mee-Kyung Nam

Mortar Construction 99 Mark Gordon

Patrick Crabb: Adobe Castings 103 George M. Tapley Jr.

Deirdre McLoughlin: Coiling Around Space 106 Nesrin During

Figurative Soft-Slab Sculpture 109 Dee Schaad

Louis Marak: Illusionary Sculpture 113 Cathy Ray Pierson

Catrin Mostyn Jones: Doing What Comes Naturally 118 Alex McErlain

Mary Fischer: Slab-built Structures 121 Jim LaVilla-Havelin

Rapid Prototyping 124 Steven Thurston

Nina Hole: Site-fired Kiln Sculpture 130 Glen R. Brown

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Ceramic Sculpture

Preface

As an artist, educator and gallery director, I’ve spent many hours looking at and thinking about art and art making. Often I’m looking for inspiration for my own work or for a curatorial idea I have brewing. Many times I’ve sent stu-dents to look someone up, so they can better understand the artist’s ideas and techniques in order to better inform their own work.

This book is a great tool for exactly that process. From beginning to end it contains details about the making process. As a gallery director I’m forever re-introducing patrons to people and ideas that everyone should hold dear. While in my own art I may stick to a certain aesthetic, as an educator/curator I find, as I grow older, a fondness for all art making. Most importantly I feel my stu-dents and patrons often lack an understanding of the value of their education and are more worried about what it can get them than what they can learn.

I also feel strongly that art making is a research driven activity. The infor-mation contained in this book is written by some of the more innovative and interesting minds working in ceramics today. While not all of the ideas are necessarily groundbreaking, they are unique in their individual approach to the use of the material. How these artists researched and successfully used the processes they set out to is inspirational, informative and important. I hope you find the research contained in these pages as exciting as I do.

Anderson Turner

Ceramic Sculpture

1

by Peter Held

George McCauleyLife Experiences

Through their work, artists communicate a full range of emotions, perceptions

and spiritual explorations. George McCauley shapes these varied life experiences into clay forms that are assembled as wholly personal and re-vealing sculpture. Prior to studying art, his vocational positions included carpenter, concrete inspector, waiter and chef, mechanic, horse trainer and aluminum-siding salesman.

Like many of his contemporaries, McCauley was drawn to clay after his initial introduction, a classic case of the “love at first touch” syndrome. Ron Meyers at the University of Georgia, was a significant role model. At the University of South Carolina, Meyers fostered an environment of experimental freedom, instilling in McCauley a sense of discovery and excitement for the medium.

The work of Peter Voulkos also has been a strong influence. “Voulkos works as if the pieces come out of him, not by him,” observes McCauley. “His devotion to mak-ing art, breaking new ground and his abilities to make works that are about what he wants to make are

Candelabrum, 43 inches in height, wheel-thrown and handbuilt earthenware, soda fired.

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Ceramic Arts Handbook

in spirational. The seemingly casual appearance and freedom evident in his work are what I strive for in my own creative endeavors.”

George Ohr’s persona and art also hold a particularly strong fascina-tion for McCauley. Billing himself as the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” Ohr was a nonconformist who created a distinctive body of work that chal-lenged the status quo of the day. Both McCauley and Ohr share a hir-sute sensibility as well, sporting am-ple mustaches reflecting flamboyant personalities.

Having spent the greater part of his childhood residing in Georgia and South Carolina, McCauley absorbed the rich history of folk-art traditions of the South, particularly those of the Jugtown potters. For a time, he

emulated these artists—inhabiting a rustic home in the country, sur-rounded by yard art and integrating his creative endeavors with the art of everyday living. “I have fancied myself as a kind of folk artist, not as a primitive or naïve practitioner, but relating to the complete sense of freedom in their work. Folk art-ists make what they want to make and create their art completely from within.”

Myths and archetypal symbols, some relating to his childhood grow-ing up in a strict Greek Orthodox home, play a significant role in McCauley’s work. He has a strong in-terest in the rituals and ceremonies found in world cultures. He is fas-cinated with religious objects such as icons, shrines and vestments. Universal symbols—concentric life spirals, the mati (an open palm with an eye)—are incorporated in his work to express needs or desires. This implies a personal narrative invoking historical significance.

Compositionally, McCauley is drawn to an unconventional orga-nization of objects, disturbing jux-tapositions and, at times, fantastic extravagance. Fleshy figures cavort with a menagerie of barnyard ani-mals, fish, a jumble of cups, saucers and other miniature pots. He inter-weaves dopey-eyed reptiles suffering from heatstroke in the arid desert and skeletal remains on cylindrical candlesticks. His totemic candelabra and house sculptures are similar to trees of life, a marriage between the animal and human worlds.

McCauley hand trimming excess clay from thrown shapes prior to assemblage.

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CeramicSculpture

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Covered jar, 26 inches in height, earthenware, iron wash and glaze, soda fired.

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Ceramic Arts Handbook

There is a narrative quality to the work, begging for a story to un-fold. McCauley denies any strict interpretation, but, rather, places a deeper importance on the mean-ing of the subject matter. “My work is narrative in the sense that I am saying something about my feelings, not always telling a story.”

Some of the relationships impart humor, at times salacious, and he

feels this is a good enough reason to create.

A freedom of process, where revi-sions and changes are evident, not hidden or refined to the point of ob-scuring the hand of the maker, also appeals to McCauley. “I am process oriented in most of my endeavors. The act of making and the vitality of the construction are very important to me. I alter my work when it is soft

Wall sconce, 21 inches in height, wheel-thrown and handbuilt earthenware, with terra sigillata, soda fired to cone 02.

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CeramicSculpture

so that I can keep all the nuances of the construction—I want the work-ing process to remain evident in feel-ing and posture. Techniques have become less important as the years go by—giving way to a looser meth-od of working.”

McCauley is primarily concerned with the making of objects, so his work is mostly wheel thrown, then altered and accented with handbuilt additions. Earthenware best suits his needs, and “soda firing completes the soft, sensual feel I strive for.”

Most of his glazes are cone 10 re-duction recipes that are fired in the cone 08–02 range in a soda or vapor atmosphere, as well as in an electric kiln. The dry and irregular surfaces enhance the imagery. Some of his works, particularly those with hues of purple and deep blue, take on an apocalyptic cast, looking like post-nuclear relics.

The color palette is generally muted. Some of his glazing strate-gies include undercoating with slips and terra sigillatas on leather-hard or bisqued surfaces, then pouring glaze overall and wiping off most. Occasionally, he simply applies a kaolin wash, then fires to cone 02 in a soda kiln. Other times after firing, a sprinkling of dry glaze, dirt or grog is applied, and the work refired.

Fundamentals and technique are merely a means to an end. McCauley chooses to do whatever is necessary, disregarding efficiency or practi-cality over a path that will achieve the results that best reflect his sensibilities.

Candlestick, approximately 30 inches in height, soda-fired earthenware, by George McCauley.

McCauley has concentrated on creating a body of work composed of personal statements and expres-sions about a life dedicated to the creative act. His sculptures convey the idea that a magical dimension of life—partly lost in the rush of modernity—can be recaptured and embraced without hesitation.

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Ceramic Arts Handbook

Recipes

Blood on the Saddle EarthenwareCone 08–02

Custer Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .9 %

Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .9

Carbondale Clay . . . . . . . . . . . 39 .6

Fireclay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 .7

Grog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 .9

100 .0 %Add 25% Cedar Heights Redart for a darker body to be used in oxidation .

Green Barium Matt GlazeCone 10

Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 37 .3 %

Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 48 .1

Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .1

Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .5

100 .0 %

Add: Black Copper Oxide . . . . . 2 .0 %

Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %

When using barium compounds, be aware of the toxic nature of this chemical . Always wear a respi-rator and gloves when mixing glazes . To avoid the barium risk, McCauley has begun to substitute strontium carbonate for barium carbonate in a ratio of ¾ to 1 .

Blue Barium Matt GlazeCone 10

Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 40 %

Spodumene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 45

Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

100 %

Add: Black Copper Oxide . . . . . 4 %

Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 %

For a green variation, replace the copper oxide with 5% iron oxide .

Purple Barium Matt GlazeCone 10

Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 36 .5 %

Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 44 .2

Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .9

Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .4

100 .0 %

Add: Copper Carbonate . . . . . . 3 .0 %

Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %

Green GlazeCone 08–6

Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 22 .2 %

Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .1

G-200 Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 .4

EPK Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .2

Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .1

100 .0 %

Add: Zinc Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .0 %

Copper Carbonate . . . . . . 10 .5 %

Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %

White GlazeCone 08–1

Ferro Frit 3124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 %

Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

100 %

Add: Opax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 %

Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 %

Mottled Brown GlazeCone 08–6

Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 .0 %

Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 .2

Alberta Slip Clay . . . . . . . . . . . 34 .8

100 .0 %

Terra SigillataClay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 lb

Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

21 lbMix 50 grams sodium silicate into the water, then add the clay . Decant mixture for 24 hours; siphon off water . Lift out the top layer of slip with hands . Yields 1 quart of thick slip . For application, thin with additional water . Variations include adding 5% Gerstley borate without decanting, colored stains added by eye, or using throwing water .