Stuart Altmann on tue 7 oct 97
The first time that I saw a pot by Bob Westerveldt was about 1962, in the
small Atlanta girls college where he taught ceramics. It caught my eye as
I walked down the hall, trying to find the Biology Department. It was a
spectacular, large platter, about 30" across, in a glass case near the
ceramics studio. It stood on a narrow base, then flared out gracefully,
nearly horizontally, with only the slightest upward curvature, approaching
flat near the outer edge.
How could this platter have been made, I wondered. Surely if it had been
thrown on a wheel, the wet clay would have simply collapsed. Ah, then, it
must have been made upside down, by draping a rolled slab of clay over a
plaster mold. But no, when I looked underneath, I could see the tell-tale
ridges of a wheel-thrown piece. Amazing!
A few months later, an amateur potter friend of mind said that Bob
Westerveld had a couple of openings in his private studio, where he took on
a few advanced students. Was I interested? You bet I was! Over the next
couple of years, I had many opportunities to watch Bob throw. Elegant urns
over two feet high were thown in one piece, not sectionally. The secret to
his wide platters? Add a little extra sand to your clay, he said. That
helped, but you also needed Bob's throwing skills.
I left Atlanta in 1970 and have lost track of Bob. My Atlanta colleague
says he no longer teaches at the local college. Does anyone on Clayart know
what became of Bob?
Stuart Altmann
| |
|
