DIRECTions: native clay by Ann Roth

D I R E C Ti o n s :

native clay

D I R E C Ti o n s :

native clay

David Zdrazil digging in clay, Eureka, CA

September 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C;October 31, 2010 Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery Raleigh, North Carolina Exhibition funding provided by

The Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery Endowment Fund Meredith College Art Department

Yellow clay used by John Benn & Colleen Gallagher, Shelton, WA

table of contents

foreword

DIRECTions: native clay 2010 exhibition essay

john benn & colleen gallagher

sunshine cobb

trevor dunn

delores lewis garcia & emma lewis mitchell

mark hewitt

daniel johnston

lucien koonce

joel queen

takuro & hitomi shibata

bob taft

jordan taylor

tim turner

dave zdrazil

foreword

When Warner Hyde approached me with his idea of doing an exhibition of ceramics created from hand-dug local clay, I was intrigued by the concept. But a concept alone is meaningless if the work isn’t engaging aesthetically. The artists Warner chose for this show, and those who applied through the jurying process, clear that hurdle with great success. They tap the exceptional qualities of the material to express uniquely individual and evocative ideas. From energetic and immediate large scale forms to carefully conceived and quietly powerful small works, the properties and potential of native clays, in combination with alternative surface treatments and carefully orchestrated wood firing, are shown in strength and vision. Warner’s “local” is geographically varied from the West Coast, to the Southwest, and up the East Coast. This exhibition shows the geological diversity of clays and connects that to the artists’ aesthetic impulses. We are fortunate to have artists in varying places in their careers and experience with local clays as well as Native American artists whose heritage is rooted in clay they dig and process. All of these artists are mindful of their relationship to the earth and its resources in the way they create their work. Warner Hyde provided the breadth of experience, momentum, and logistical coordination for the exhibition. Caitlin McNabb, a Meredith College graphic design major, incorporated the artists’ work and technical information into a catalogue well suited to its contents. The show was supported by the Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery Endowment Fund, the Meredith College Art Department, and the Center for Women in the Arts. My appreciation and thanks go to all. Ann Roth Gallery Director

DIRECTions: native clay 2010 EXHIBITION ESSAY

I am fascinated that in the year 2010, in an age of exponential technological advances, materials, and resources, that there is a yearning within humanity to seek wisdom through labor and one of the most direct materials - the clay we live on. DIRECTions examines the desire of many in the modern world to seek a closer and more symbiotic relationship with the natural world. There is life knowledge and wisdom found and gained when seeking this relationship. The ceramic works in “DIRECTions” are physical extensions of each of these artists’ experience, and are visual representations of their relationship to the natural world. The processes used complete the full geologic circle, embracing raw clay, fuels, and fire. Some of the works in this exhibition are aimed at exploiting that process aggressively, while other works speak to different concerns using a more subtle embrace. The idea for this exhibition crystallized a few years back while contemplating my own artistic goals and philosophies and those of the contemporary ceramics movement. I have always responded deeply and physically to work that emphasizes the “clayness” of clay, in contrast with work that strives to see how unlike clay clay can be until it has no role other than that. Local or native clays, especially those minimally processed, interest me because they retain so much knowledge and character. It is impossible to separate the importance of the artist’s relationship with the natural world when looking at work that stays true to the material and its source. The exhibition features the ceramic work of artists who use native clays harvested from the four corners of the United States and in between to express their creative voices. The range of colors and textures found in these clay bodies is as varied as the ideas they support. While the act of locating, harvesting, and processing local clays is age old, all of the featured artists have brought this process to a new and contemporary context. A host of traditions are represented in the work. Of particular visibility are those associated with Native American Shigaraki/ Iga, and the Leach/Hamada “Mingei” movement. The common ground of these influences and aesthetics is found in appreciation, understanding, and respect for the direct ceramic materials and process. The value of these traditions resonates throughout all of the work featured, while being pushed by each individual in a new direction. Of further interest are the various paths that each artist has traveled to acquire, hone, and master skills. Some of the artists are generational, learning the craft from their direct ancestors; others have successfully climbed the apprenticeship ladder; and others have been challenged in the academic setting. Regardless, each artist has developed a highly sensitive and harmonious balance using native ceramic materials to extend personal inner visions and voice. It is our treat as the viewer to engage in these works as an individual and as a whole. By doing so I believe one will have a saturated experience of geologic and conceptual delight. I thank the participating artists for creating such fine work and for sharing such valuable material and process information and Caitlin McNabb for her many hours assembling the catalogue with graphic design expertise. I am forever indebted to Ann Roth for believing in and making possible the “DIRECTions” exhibition. Warner F. Hyde Exhibition curator Assistant Professor of Art - Ceramics Meredith College

john benn & colleen gallagher SHELTON, WA

Vase Form | 14” x 13” x 13”

JOHN BENN AND COLLEEN GALLAGHER MAKE wood-fired pottery and sculptural tiles in a converted boatbuilding workshop on Harstine Island in Puget Sound. Professional potters for 27 years, their work has won awards internationally and can be seen in private collections, museums, and public art projects. John built his first wood kiln in 1976. He studied with F. Carleton Ball and Ken Stevens at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and with Howard Shapiro and Sandra Simon in the MFA Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Colleen studied ceramics with Ka Kwong Hui at Rutgers University and studio art in the MFA Program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She earned her MFA from the University of Puget Sound, where she met John.

artist ’s statement | john

The compulsive and inefficient nature of the wood-fire process connects me closely to the earth. I dig local clays. I fire using trees from our forest. I submit the work to my kiln to be reborn as a permanent object that records the touch of my hands and the fire and ash that have transformed it. The wood kiln is not a tame beast. It gives me accidents and blessings. I find beauty in imperfection. My commitment to wood-firing is obsessive and non-intellectual. I discover my pots in addition to creating them.

artist ’s statement | colleen The images I draw on my wood-fired pieces derive from my relationship to the forested island where I live. Digging and forming clay, and gathering and burning wood reinforce my connections to my landscape. Although I control processes, the wood kiln’s ash deposits and color flashes are always a combination of physics and serendipity. Drawings on the successful pieces seem effortless and familiar, yet as mysterious and surprising as a leaf or a feather.

technical information

Vase | 6.5” x 3.5” x 2”

Gray clay: Gritty fireclay, very plastic, some rock inclusions that melt out black, fires beige/gray with some dark specks, highly refractory (still porous at cone 13), ashed surfaces show small clear glassy spots, possibly from fine silica sand.

For pots near the front of the kiln close to the firebox: a clay body that is 2/3 gray clay and 1/3 yellow clay. They have a liner glaze inside. No exterior glaze is used. The firing process builds up layers of wood ash and patina.

Yellow clay: Smooth, fine-particled, slightly thixotropic (difficult to throw unless mixed with other clays), some iron content, fires to a reddish-brown, flashes nicely in both wood firings and wood/salt firings. This clay is usable as a slip.

For pieces that are fired in the quieter places in the kiln: a clay body that is 1/5 yellow clay, 3/5 gray clay and 1/5 brown clay. This clay is preferably used with a shino glaze, as the iron content in the brown clay helps develop the fire color.

Brown clay: Iron bearing, slightly plastic, fires a dark chocolate brown.

www.benngallagher.com

Fruit Bucket | 11” x 16” x 10”

artist ’s statement

sunshine cobb PORTLAND, OR

SUNSHINE COBB WAS BORN IN VANCOUVER, British Columbia. She grew up in southern California graduating from Adolpho Camarillo High School. She worked many jobs and took a great many college classes on her quest to find her calling. While searching for her bliss, Sunshine tried many careers: housekeeper, customer service agent, production assistant, massage therapist, child/elder caregiver. She finally discovered ceramics. After a short stint at Chico State University, she went on to graduate with a BA from Sacramento State University, California in 2004. She recently graduated from Utah State University in Logan, Utah with her MFA. She hightailed it out of Utah and is currently residing in Portland, Oregon.

I want my work in clay to represent growth and accomplishment, in which I believe reminiscence and nostalgia play a part. The hypnotic rhythm of driving has inspired me to create a visual hierarchy of objects, using imagery, texture and color to create a sense of motion and time inmy work. I hope to instill a sense of age, like one finds apparent in discarded objects, with the aim to infuse feelings of nostalgia and wanderlust in my ceramic objects. By exploring and creating vessels kept within arm’s reach, I hope to communicate how an object’s significance can grow and change depending on the path of a person’s life. And how the relationship between function and ornament shift throughout the course of a day/week/year. Through form and surface my goal is to communicate a sense of home and memory but also to evoke that feeling of wanderlust that has informed my own life and visual sensibilities.

technical information Clay Body Recipe - Earthenware 35% Henefer (Summit County, Utah) 35% C-Red clay 15% OM4 15% C&C ball clay

Each pot is hand built using coils, then layered slips and drawings- fired in oxidation to cone 02-03 (usually an electric kiln). Solid glaze color is also sandblasted after firing.

www.sunshinecobb.com

trevor dunn LOGAN, UTAH

adjunct faculty member and the ceramics studio coordinator at Utah State University. Trevor has exhibited internationally and has work in the collections of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Harrison Ceramics Collection, Nora Eccles Museum of Art, Utah State University and the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute Permanent Collection, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. People’s Republic of China.

artist ’s statement

AFTER RECEIVING HIS BFA FROM THE UNIVERSITY of South Florida, Trevor Dunn pursued his interest in wood-fired pottery by building a studio and an Anagama kiln in Durango, Colorado. He moved to New Mexico to teach ceramics and sculpture at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, where he soon built another anagama kiln to accommodate larger work. He left there to pursue his Master of Fine Arts degree which he received from the University of Utah in 2009. Throughout this period, Trevor taught workshops around the country in wood firing, salt/soda firing, and kiln building. He continues to teach at San Juan College in the summer and has also served as a technical consultant for several public art projects. In 2009 he received a NCECA Graduate Student Fellowship Award for a proposed study and film project in Jianxi, China. He is currently an

I make reliquaries referencing ceremonial altars and discarded artifacts and serve as bases for mezcal cantaros. Mezcal cantaros are simple earthenware vessels that were traditionally used to store and transport mezcal; these bottles became obsolete during the 1940’s. By making pieces that have references to cast off functional objects and placing them in context with a true relic (truly antiquated), I am encouraging the viewer/user to ask questions of this relationship. Some of the questions may cause one to ponder objects they use on a daily basis. What rituals do I employ in my daily life? What is my relationship to the past? How do my interpersonal relationships function? What is my purpose/ when is my obsolescence?

technical information

Stoneware: Equal Parts Henefer (Summit County, Utah)and Hawthorne Bond fireclay Construction Methods: Thrown and altered, with additions of hand built and molded parts. Woodfired to Cone 8, cooled in reduction in a train kiln. Natural ash deposits from heavy ember building cycles.

www.trevortdunn.com

Hemisphere Block Gear and Mezcal Cantaro | 12” x 17” x 17”

DELORES LEWIS GARCIA AND EMMA LEWIS Mitchell learned to make traditional Acoma pottery from their mother, renowned potter Lucy M. Lewis; both are now noted artists, instructors, and guest lecturers. They have given workshops at art schools, high schools and colleges, and museums internationally. Pottery by Delores and Emma are in the collections of the Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego, CA; Wright Collection, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; and the Brooklyn Museum of Arts, NY among others. Numerous publications and documentaries have featured them and their work.

artist statement | emma

I am the daughter of Lucy M. Lewis, matriarch of Acoma Pueblo pottery. I am dedicated to using only natural materials and authentic, traditional techniques and processes to make our pottery. When I make pots, I feel the presence of my grandmothers. I love to paint Acoma designs: deer, flowers, and birds, and I enjoy reproducing Mimbres and Chaco Canyon designs. I am certain these people of long ago are my ancestors. I enjoy making pottery as I have learned the art form from my mother and I will continue to do so.

artist statement | delores

My mother, Lucy, encouraged me to start making my own pottery early in my life. I used to just help her wet burnish and white slip her pots with rocks I still use. I also helped her grind and mix her mineral paints on a stone paint well and chew her yucca brushes. As years went by, I caught on how pottery was made. Mainly I taught myself just by watching my mother do all these things related to pottery making and by my feelings. My mother is my greatest inspiration, and although I consider myself a self-taught potter, I give her credit for showing me the way and encouraging me to keep this art alive. I get inspiration from the great potters around me. My designs are all original Acoma, Mimbres, Chaco Canyon, and Anasazi left behind by my great-grandmothers. No piece of my pottery is the same size, because I do not measure the clay when I start making the pot. I make pottery for people who appreciate Indian pottery.

delores lewis garcia & emma lewis mitchell SAN FIDEL, NM

technical information

All of Emma’s and Delores’s pottery is hand built using the pinch and coil methods. They use clay that is dug from the hills surrounding them and then stone ground by hand. Centuries-old Anasazi pot shards are pounded and used as grog to strengthen the clay. Their pots are dipped in slips, burnished, and then hand painted. Well-chewed branches from yucca bushes produce soft bristles for brushes. Paints are mixed from hand-selected and ground rocks, mixed with water and a binder made of wild spinach juice and the Rocky Mountain bee plant. The pots are then fired in cow dung and cleaned.

Dolores Lewis Garcia | Seed Jar | 2” x 2”

Emma Lewis Mitchell | Parrot Jar | 6” x 7”

Iced Tea Ceremonial Vessels | 8”

AFTER APPRENTICING WITH MICHAEL CARDEW in England and Todd Piker in Connecticut, Mark Hewitt moved to North Carolina in 1983 because of its native clay and wood-firing traditions. He is known for distinctive, functional pots, specializing in very large planters, vases, and jars, along with finely made smaller items. His work blends the different North Carolinian folk traditions together into a contemporary style. Mark’s pottery has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine and on the cover of American Craft magazine. He has written extensively for the ceramic press; and, with Nancy Sweezy, he curated , the 2005 exhibition “The Potter’s Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery,” at the North Carolina Museum of Art and co-wrote the accompanying book. He has exhibited in London, New York, and Tokyo, as well as throughout the US and is represented in museum and private collections.

mark hewitt PITTSBORO, NC

artist ’s statement

A huge part of my creative energy is directed toward making simple moments of culinary pleasure, to intensify ordinary domestic life and culinary rituals so that you’re doing more than just drinking tea. You’re communicating with an aesthetic vision, if you will, and you have texture in your hand and color in front of you in a way that you’re able to feel it in a much more significant way than if you were just looking at it on a wall in a museum.

Red Clay 25%, Wood Ash 30%, Lime 5%, Felspar 10%, Cullet 20%, Bentonite 5% Iron Oxide 5% BBC Alkaline Based on Burlon Craig’s southern alkaline glaze, it’s a pale green ash glaze, becoming a medium green with 3% iron and a dark streaky green with 7% iron. Red clay 15%, wood ash 40%, cullet (ground glass) 15%, Cornish stone 15%, lime 5%, talc 5%, bentonite 5% CHGB - Chapel Hill Gravel (bisque) - from Merritt’s Quarry, Damascus Church Road, Chapel Hill This glaze is a celadon color, and becomes a tenmoku with the addition of 5% iron oxide. Chapel Hill gravel 80%, lime 10%, Michfield clay 10%, bentonite 2%, CHGR - Chapel Hill Gravel Ash (raw)

technical information

Mid-green ash glaze, becomes a darker green with %5 Iron Oxide, and an amber brown with 4% iron oxide and 4% manganese dioxide. Chapel Hill gravel 40%, ash 40%, Michfield clay 15%, bentonite 5%

The Cameron/ Lemon Springs clay is a strong high alumina clay, Richardson is higher in silica, Cheraw is an iron bearing cone 6 clay, Foundry Hill Crème is very plastic, Kings’ Mountain a good stabilizer.

Firings I have two very big wood-burning kilns, an anagama-type, single chamber kiln for salt-glazing, and a nabrigama-type, three chamber kiln for regular high temperature reduction glazes. I fire the salt kiln twice a year and the glaze kiln once a year. Both kilns are fired to Cone 12 (2350F). Each kiln takes 5 days to pack, and three and a half days to fire. I use oak and hickory logs during the early stages of the firing and yellow pine slabs for the end of the firing.

Clay body Cameron/Lemon Springs (NC) 25%, Richardson (Seagrove) 20%, Cheraw (SC) 15%, Foundry Hill Crème (TN) 15%, Kings Mountain Kaolin (NC) 5%, Feldspar G-200 10%, Fine Grog 5%, Pyrophillite (NC) 5%

Red Slip Local red clay 75%, Chapel Hill gravel 25% Glazes Iron Ash: A yellow-colored ash glaze when fired in the salt kiln

www.hewittpottery.com

technical information

daniel johnston SEAGROVE, NC

DANIEL JOHNSTON APPRENTICED WITH MARK Hewitt for four years, worked with Clive Bowen, an earthenware potter in North Devon, England, and spent a year as a potter’s apprentice in northeast Thailand. Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew have also had a significant influence on him. For nearly fifteen years he has devoted his time to understanding the many traditions that have inspired the work of these noted potters. Daniel has had solo shows in Raleigh, Asheville, Norfolk, VA, and Corpus Christi, TX, and has participated in group shows throughout the Southeast. He has lectured and taught at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina Pottery Center, and Texas A & M University. Daniel’s work is in the collections of the Mint Museum of Art, Gregg Museum of Art & Design at North Carolina State University, and the North Carolina Pottery Center among others.

I use local clay to make all of my pots. The refining process is labor intensive, but the simplicity of mining clay and transforming it into useful and beautiful objects is greatly rewarding and fulfilling on many levels. The local clay culturally offers a connection to the many potters that dug clay in the Seagrove area before me. The variation and inconsistency of minimally refined clay gives a richness and beauty to the pots. The glaze I use is a combination of wood ash from my wood stove, a local red earthenware clay, and a local stoneware clay. The idea of using wood ash and clay to create a glaze is several thousand years old. Different proportions of these two remarkable materials can give you a wide range of amazing results. These two seemingly simple materials have produced glazes throughout time that are unparalleled in diversity and beauty.

www.danieljohnstonpottery.com

artist ’s statement

The better I understand the idea behind…traditions, the more relevant my pots will become in my own tradition and culture. I dig most of the materials I use to make and glaze my pots. My pots are fired in a large 850 cubic ft. wood kiln. I enjoy the hard work and it leaves no part of the process separated from me. I do not try to control my materials, rather I try to understand them. From digging the clay to firing the kiln I put all my effort into creating pots that have a powerful presence. It is important to me to create pots that are timeless but reflect the culture and times in which I live.

Large Jars | 22”-48” x 24”-28”, 20-45 gallons volume

Mentori Sake Cup | 2.5” x 2.75” x 2.75”

artist ’s statement

lucien koonce HAYDENVILLE, MA

LUCIEN KOONCE IS A NORTH CAROLINA NATIVE, growing up in Greenville and earning a BFA at Eastern Carolina University. He received his MFA at the University of Iowa and, after graduate school and working in another profession, he returned to live in Robbins to make pots. There he began using glazes and firing methods that were linked to North Carolina’s pottery heritage. In 2008 he relocated to western Massachusetts. Lucien has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work has been reviewed in Ceramics Monthly and Artweek, and he has taught at UNC-Charlotte.

In my current body of work I approach the composition with spontaneity and immediacy, discovering the form during the process of making it. I seek to push the disorganization and the subsequent reorganization of the vessel from being a member of the “pot” realm to becoming an abstract object in the sculptural realm while retaining its function. While I may have preconceived notions of the form, it is through spontaneous manipulation that the exterior of an object is derived. Once the clay stiffens I hollow out the interior by hand with a carving tool, a process known as kurinuki. This technique, in which a form is dug or carved out of solid clay instead of being shaped on a potter’s wheel or made from coils or slabs, is a process that allows me to intently focus on the inner shape. I strive to keep a balance between the outer and inner movements of the form.

technical information

Erect, NC stoneware clay, Grafton, NH feldspar inclusions, natural ash deposits; anagama woodfired to cone 12 (6 days) Wood-firing adds another dimension to the composition, ultimately helping to define one’s interpretation of the whole. The inherent nature of continuous flame, intense heat, and ash upon the clay, whether glazed or unglazed, adds color and textural effects that are congruent to each piece. The unpredictability of the firing, juxtaposed with the implementation of as many controlled variables as one can, creates random visual beauty which harmonizes with the physical form. Subsequently, the form, whether functional or non-functional, has become like a diary, recording the thoughts and process of the maker and the kiln’s fire.

http://lmkoonce.home.mindspring.com

joel queen CHEROKEE, NC

JOEL’S WORK EXPRESSES THE EVOLUTION OF the lineage of potters known as the Bigmeat family. As the ninth-generation Bigmeat potter, most recently following the path of his paternal grandmother, Ethel Bigmeat Queen (1914-1942), he is an extension of her work just as she was the extension of the work of her ancestors. Joel draws upon his heritage and the experience and exposure gained by earning a BFA and a MFA from Western Carolina University to experiment with size, shapes, and techniques while maintaining the quality and purity of his legacy. Joel’s pots are in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum, Monticello, the British Museum, and the North Carolina Museum of History among others. He has exhibited extensively and has received many honors and awards for his work.

artist ’s statement

As a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, I feel I have a responsibility to keep Cherokee art alive. I live to teach others about my art and the Cherokee culture. Prejudice drives me to educate. It is my passion to break the stereotype that has been placed upon Native art. The simplicity of line is what I look for and line is what I manipulate. Stone and wood speak to me in a visual picture and then I carve that image. Ceramics binds my images to the functional world. I strive to link all cultures together through art. My goal is to create art so that people can see their past and future in my creations.

technical information

Hand-dug Hemphill A clay, reduction firing

www.joelqueengallery.com Dancing Quails | 15.5” x 19”

Hitomi’s Platter | 18” x 3”

Takuro’s Vase | 4” x 11”

takuro & hitomi shibata SEAGROVE, NC

TAKURO AND HITOMI SHIBATA RELOCATED TO Seagrove, North Carolina in 2005 where they built their pottery studio and anagama kiln. They work at STARworks Ceramics in Star, where Takuro is the director and Hitomi is studio manager and an instructor. Both have worked in various positions at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shiga, Japan, and have been resident artists at the Cub Creek Foundation in Appomattox, VA. Takuro has also been a resident artist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Peters Valley Crafts Education Center in Layton, NJ. Hitomi was the resident potter at the North Carolina Pottery Center from 2005-2007.

artist ’s statement | takuro

I learned pottery making in Japan when I was a college student and after graduation I moved to Shigaraki, which is well-known as one of the oldest Japanese pottery towns. I lived there for 7 years and established my skill and knowledge as a professional potter.

I use local clay from the ground, because it is less processed and more natural than commercial clay. I have chosen woodfiring for my preferred firing method, primarily due to the flexibility in methods, such as fly ash, amber, and flame pattern, and uneven atmosphere. I combine these effects by positioning and firing in my anagama kiln, which give special characteristics, many variations on colors, and textures. Making form of my works is the man-made part of my works. I try to leave my unique mark with my hand to my works.

Since I came to North Carolina in 2005, I have lived in Seagrove, which is the most active pottery community in the US. I enjoy making pots in my studio and having wood firing by our anagama kiln that we built in 2009.

In my works, I am trying to put natural and man-made elements in one object, uniquely blending nature into the art. This results in elements that are not replicated in nature. I hope my works will be making harmony with nature.

artist ’s statement | hitomi

My works are made from natural clays and it’s really important for me to use materials from nature. Woodfiring is also an important process to complete it and gives my work a sustainable energy and a life.

I want to create beautiful pots from natural materials and elements, and hope people will love, hold, and use them functionally in daily life.

technical information White stoneware clay body 30% Mitchfield, North Carolina 50% Cameron, North Carolina 10% Silica 10% F4 5% Mulite 48M

Glaze We use a simple glaze which is made by wood ash and feldspar. We change the recipe depending on the wood ash. Firing We use wood firing. We have a two-chamber wood kiln; the first chamber is anagama and the second chamber is a salt chamber.

www.studiotouya.com

bob taft GREENWOOD, SC

BOB TAFT WAS BORN IN UPSTATE NEW YORK and moved to Asheville ten years ago where he took an extension course in throwing at AB Tech. He moved to Greenwood, South Carolina and enrolled in the Professional Clay Program at Piedmont Technical College, at Edgefield just as Gary Clontz started the program from scratch. He received both the Professional and Advanced Clay Certificates two years ago. Bob has exhibited in several South Carolina venues.

artist ’s statement

Clay is the essence of what a potter does and the local Edgefield clay is the best I’ve worked with. The clay is plastic and has enough tooth to stand up when you throw it. Sieving it through a window screen leaves it with minerals that give it a unique look after it has been reduction fired. I’m under no delusion that a couple of hours digging and hauling clay up a river bank along with a couple of days of processing it gives me great insight into the past. Farmers and slaves created works admired today under harsh conditions in order for them to survive. I was after a hundred pounds of clay and knew that air conditioning was never too far away. The clay I used is certainly worth any effort involved. This clay is the reason both Native American potters and the Edgefield traditional potters thrived in South Carolina.

The Antelopes | 14” x 11”

technical information Clay body 45% Edgefield County (SC) clay 8% Aiken County (SC) clay 8% OM-4 ball clay 16% G-200 feldspar 8% flint 2% pyrax 5% grit 8% Hawthorn bond

I wanted something that could fit in at the Phoenix Factory or Collin Rhodes Factory in the old Edgefield District of South Carolina from 1840-1860. The jug has the bulbous form, the handle off the shoulder, and the neck flange that are often seen in Edgefield pots. Alkaline green glazes were common. I hope I’ve approximated the slip painting and trailing often done by slaves, and that first appeared at the Phoenix Factory. The Antelopes was wheel thrown and fired in a down draft, natural gas kiln for approximately 10 hours to cone 10 in a reduction atmosphere starting at cone 06. It has slip made from Campbell’s black walnut clay painted on the faces. A glaze called flame was sprayed over the whole piece and Paul’s Chun sprayed on the rim and lower on the body.

JORDAN TAYLOR WAS BORN IN IOWA CITY IN 1975. Five members of his family have pursued clay at different times. He is named for Jordan clay, a robustly colored stoneware clay that used to be mined in Maryland. Jordan became interested in wood firing at Earlham College in Indiana, where he completed a B.A. in art in 1999. After college, he was an apprentice potter to Mark Skudlarek in Cambridge, WI. There he was able to continue developing turning skills and an understanding of large wood-burning kilns. After six years operating Stony Meadow Pottery in Pennsylvania, Jordan and his wife, Mariana Garrettson, recently moved to North Carolina because of the area’s rich clay resources.

artist ’s statement

I’ve investigated the stele form intensively over the past four years subsequent to an expedition to the Mayan archeological site of El Mirador in northeastern Guatemala . My inquiry began as part of a reaching beyond the making of traditional functional forms in clay. This project has led me past questions of form, into conceptual territory that deals with the existential role of clay, literally, in the larger world. The culmination of my Stele Project has been to install a series of 76” H, four ton stelae outside the Everhart Museum. Because of an estimated 6-8% porosity they will erode and, in theory at least, follow the Chesapeake Bay watershed back to near where the clay was mined in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Untitled (stele) | 70” x 48” x 32”

technical information

Clay body 56% Candor, NC primary kaolin: thixotropic, low shrinkage, high silica, manganese schist inclusions

jordan taylor CHAPEL HILL, NC

24% Lughoff, SC secondary kaolin: high iron, fine grained, high plasicity, low green strength, severe cracking during firing due to high shrinkage 20% nepheline syenite, Unimin, A270 Firing 10-day wood firings. Cone 11-16+, alternating between hardwood and softwood, crash cooling to 1600oF on average, frequently with large pine ember beds in contact with the work when the kiln is sealed.

www.stonymeadowpottery.com

tim turner CREEDMOOR, NC

TIM TURNER STARTED HIS CLAY ADVENTURE at Appalachian State University in the mid 70’s, moving on to Penland, NC, where he met and worked with some remarkable artists and craftspeople. In the early 80’s he moved back to the Boone/Banner Elk area in the northwest corner of North Carolina where he set up a studio and produced pots for over twenty years. In 1996 he decided to take a sabbatical from pots and concentrate on painting, which he had also been doing in his “spare” time. For eleven years he concentrated on painting until April 2007, when on a visit to Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, North Carolina, he was offered a clay studio. He said, “Sure, three months.” Three months have turned into three years.

artist ’s statement

My goal is to produce strong, simple forms with minimal decoration, using the wood/soda aspect of the firing as a means to create subtle effects that emphasize the strength of the form. In addition to the wood-fired work, I have finally (after three years) worked out some exciting glazes in the gas kiln, Shinos with wax resist brushwork and a couple of different glazes sprayed over.

technical information

Stoneware, thrown, altered and sprayed and brushed with slip. Wood- and soda-fired, Cone 11

www.timturnerpottery.blogspot.com

Wood Soda Vessel | 9” x 12” x 5”

Sideways Energy Awareness Bottle | 12” x 8” x 5”

artist ’s statement

dave zdrazil EUREKA, CA

DAVE ZDRAZIL IS A CLAY ARTIST AND AN associate faculty member at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California. Since completing his M.F.A. at the University of North Texas in 2005, he has taught at several institutions in addition to giving guest lectures, workshops, and private consultation related to ceramics and kiln building. He has exhibited work in several states and countries, including France and Australia, and his work is in numerous private collections around the world.

Human geography sparks a poetic visual dialogue in my mind regarding what we create and that which creates us. I express my ideas through the symbolic value of clay vessels in hopes they will subtly speak for themselves. References of traditional pottery forms, geology, and technology are often found in my work. I am fascinated by the mysterious aspects of matter and energy that are in constant interaction around me, especially during the creation of my art. If my finished piece is ambiguous or open for interpretation, someone who sees it will inevitably extract any variety of messages from it regardless of accuracy. Therefore, the meaning they give to it becomes the reason for its existence.

technical information

Like a folk artist or traditional potter, I am interested in using materials from my environment. I’ve collected and experimented with clays and sediments from places I lived for about ten years and have found that certain materials used in their unprocessed state allow for the most potential and special “flavor” to be added to my work. The wood-firing process brings new life to the clay as well; it is unpredictable and I welcome the dynamic results. Since I collaborate with fire, my own embellishments must work with the energy released by it. The bottle pictured is wood-fired stoneware with Lost Coast native clay slip. The clay body is recycled scraps containing Lincoln Fireclay, Muddox Mortarclay and local clays.

www.davezdrazil.com

catalog design by Caitlin McNabb