Clay and Kiln: Winterim Wrap-Up

As we cleaned up all the clay from tools, tables, wheels, and, finally, our hands, it was hard not to look back at our progress as we packed up boxes of glossy blue, black and green pieces of art we created over the last two weeks. Led by our caring and calming instructor, Shana Brautigam, we tried our hands at a variety of techniques, many that with each one of us individually. Some found success on the potter's wheel, some enjoyed making instruments like horns, rattles and whistles and some perfected the hand-made bowl. Perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of this winterim was its lofty goal of creating over 120 bowls to donate to the upcoming "Empty Bowls" dinner in Groton. Each day spent in the studio, we individually produced bowls for the project. Looking back at the quality and care put into each bowl was a true testament to our steady improvement over the duration of the winterim. Towards the end of the program, we experimented with different glazing techniques and finished with the exciting and unpredictable raku firing. Raku is a technique where the pottery is removed during the glaze firing at approximately 1,900 F and put into sawdust, hay and wood chips. The hay and sawdust in contact with the extremely hot pottery create very  interesting metallic colors and patterns on the pieces as a result of the oxygen on the glaze being removed by the combustion of the sawdust. The process is exciting because no two pieces come out the same and the process must be done quickly and safely due to the high temps which also can cause the pottery to shatter.
Overall, our weeks were very productive and each student improved vastly. It amazing what can come from a ball of clay in the right hands.

   

Outdoor Raku firing

Full Video of Raku Firing
Additional Video


 

We finished up with an ice cream party in our favorite bowls!

Wednesday March 12, 2014

Today in Clay and Kiln, the first thing we did was observed each others pieces that had been taken out of the kiln after the glaze firing. We wrote down what combinations of glazes worked well together on the board so for future projects we had a better idea of what colors to use. Here are some of our best color combinations that came out of the firing.

Also, we continued to work on pinch pot bowls to donate to empty bowls. Everyone made around 3-7  bowls. Lastly, we glazed more pieces that had come out of the first set of firing and loaded them into the kiln to be finished.

Today in our clay and kiln class we learned to make hanging pots, instruments, and continued working on our Empty Bowls. The hanging pots were made very uniqley due to peoples different opinions of what they wanted to do. They had two holes, four holes, or were a single pinched pot. We also created many musical instruments, such as the horn and the flute, using the slab roller and contributions from our peers.

Artist: Young Jae Lee

Young Jae Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1951. Lee studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Seoul. In the 1970’s she trained with a German potter learning the art of practical ceramics.  However, in 1978 she set up her own pottery studio. She specializes in traditional Korean ceramics pieces such as vases and many different shapes and colors of bowls. She mixes these Korean techniques and art forms with forms of the German teacher that she studied with. Young Jae Lee currently lives in Germany. Finally Lee has won six different awards many of which are either first or second place and gold. She completes most of her work on the pottery wheel and has exhibits in many museums and gallery’s including the Pucker Gallery in Boston. Some of Lee’s work is displayed below.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/369998925607548100/

http://www.designboom.com/design/spindle-vases-by-young-jae-lee-at-pinakothek-der-moderne-munich/

http://www.designboom.com/design/spindle-vases-by-young-jae-lee-at-pinakothek-der-moderne-munich/

http://www.designboom.com/design/spindle-vases-by-young-jae-lee-at-pinakothek-der-moderne-munich/

Sources: 

http://www.puckergallery.com/artists/leeyoungjae/leeyoungjae_bio.html

http://kwm-1924.de/3_4_objekte_in_museen_en.html

"Glazing" March 10th , 2014 - Clay and Kilns

Today is March 10th, 2014. From previous week, we learned how to make potteries from three basic methods, and today We are moving on to the next level of pottery. We learned how to glaze our potteries after go through the first stage 1800 degrees heating.

Glazing Steps: 

step 1: get the equipments set up includes water bucket, colors, hot wax etc.

step 2: wax: dip our potteries into warm wax.

step 3 : glaze: stir the bucket of glaze before dipping into color buckets.

step 4 : wait for 2-3 minutes for it to dry.

step 5 (optional) : overglaze: put wax over dry potteries which been glaze before then glaze it again.

You are ready for the second stage of clay. 

Reminder: chemical (colors) are toxic.

Artist Spotlight: Steven Branfman

Steven Branfman is a raku master. Branfman started working with clay in 1971 while in college at Cortland State University. Branfman's least favorite part of clay is glazing while his favorite is throwing. Branfman also is the founder of The Potter's Shop in 1977. This was a studio that was a workspace for clay workers. Most people that view Branfman s work do not believe it is raku because of the textures and the shape. The textures and shape of his artwork is what makes his work so unique. Branfman makes vessels where instead of thinking of the clay as a blank canvas, he thinks of it as a skin with a pressence and volume. When going to his work area, Branfman always nows what he wants to make and how it is going to look. Branfman see's his work as a journey and that is what drives him to continue on with making raku technique pieces. Below are two of Branfman's raku pieces.

Artist Statement: Bridget Arnold

Bridget has been sculpting and making pots since leaving college in 1997. Her style consists of closed formed fingers as opposed to open figures. Due to most of her work being closed formed, her work responds well to firing. Her ideas and shapes are inspired by her home of South Devon and materials that she found on the coast.

Bridget Arnold's current work is influenced by plants that grow near her home in Bovey Tracey. She also collaborates with artists Blacksmith Spencer Larcombe making stands for eggs and Spheres to sit in.

(http://www.studiopottery.co.uk/profile/Bridget/Arnold)