Bonnie Staffel on sat 21 oct 00
Dear Clayarters,
I want to thank Frank Gaydos for adding the history of Harding Black for all
to read. So many young people do not realize what a great asset this
discussion group is and the wealth of information available through books,
magazines and the Internet now as compared to the very early days. I, too,
began my pottery career in 1948 but did not have the good fortune to go to
college to pursue this loved craft. So through my own curiosity was lucky
enough to find the magazine on Industrial Ceramics with the articles for
studio potters. I also started to explore copper reds and did extensive
testing of glazes - thousands of them. As I lived practically in downtown
Toledo, did not have the luxury of having a gas kiln but through the
espertise of an engineering friend, he built a tiny electric kiln around
which we would have a party to watch the glazes boil through the peep hole.
Seems so silly now, but we had no available university teaching facility
except at the Toledo Museum of Art. Most glazes were low fire and contained
white lead. No Monona around to give us cautions. The Amaco company was
one of the few who sold clay and glazes. Luckily, Harvey Littleton became
my second Ceramics Instructor on his first job out of Cranbrook. He
encouraged my interest and helped me get a scholarship to Cranbrook.
There happened to be a field tile clay operation a couple of miles from my
studio where we could get raw extruded field tiles which we would dry, make
into a slurry, screen to remove sticks and stones, and dry down to plastic
clay in burlap bags hanging from the tree so we would have clay to work
throughout the winter.
Later, Harvey helped the group of potters in the Toledo area to start a
potters guild. Through that organization, we brought in "notorious" potters
like Paul Soldner, Robert Turner, Gerry Williams, Rudy Autio, Daniel Rhodes,
Bruno La Verdiere, Toshiko Takaezu, etc., all the movers and shakers of that
era. This was our university.
What I am pointing out is that there was a studio potter movement outside
the university system, all pursuing the craft of clay through the limited
exchange of information of the day - and that was through workshops,
magazines and books. The American Craftsmen's Council was very important to
our lives by holding conferences in different parts of the country. Many
museums also started to have competitive shows where we could have our work
shown, awards presented and sometimes sell. The art fair held in Toledo in
1950 was my first one and the public did not even know what a pot was. So
since then, felt that educating the public was one of our purposes if we
wanted to succeed. When I showed at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in it's third
year, I didn't have enough pockets to stash the sales money. My love affair
with the art scene of Michigan eventually culminated in our move to
Charlevoix. I am a firm believer that when you set up a sales situation, it
is "location, location, location."
Thanks for your ears.
Bonnie Staffel, Charlevoix, MI
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