Merrie Boerner on wed 1 aug 01
Dear Clayart Friends,
I met Richard Zakin at the Alabama Clay Conference several years ago. He has
been a friendly, helpful source of information for me.
Enjoy,
Merrie
"Hello Merrie, I am not sure I remember the context of my remark about loss
and ceramics. I do remember saying that a lot of what we do as ceramists is
influenced by the ways we try to guard against loss in our work. Clay is
particularly prone to failure and all ceramists who take any chances at all
are familiar with it. We all know that the nature of clay and glazes can
lead to loss and we try to insure against that in various ways. Some of us
try to perfect a technology so that we have fewer losses. Others just make a
lot of work and accept the losses as inevitable. Still others learn as much
as they can about a wide variety of ceramic subjects to insure against loss.
Others take chances and feel that is the only way to make work that is not
safe. I myself experiment a great deal and have lots of losses. Recently I
have been working with a clay body that has only 50% clay, the rest are non
clay materials.I have made some tall forms and also some wide/low forms with
this body. Some of the tall forms warped in the kiln and leaned to one
side - I cured this by building wider bases. The wide/low forms cracked at
the base. It took me a while to figure out that this happened when I paddled
the lower part of the pot wall inwards. So once I figured this out I stopped
doing it and learned to make the form without having the lower wall curve
inwards. It turns out that this kind of form is more unusual and more
interesting so it has worked out well. I have also changed the body and
added fire clay to the recipe, an unusual ingredient in a low clay body but
it seems to be helpful. So far the cracking has not returned. I would much
rather not have losses but I have them and I have come to see that I can use
the threat of loss to learn. I don't like loss and have the feeling that I
should not have loss but I learn from it so in this way I learn to live with
it. If you remember I am very interested in the work of Adelaide Alsop
Robineau (1865 - 1929). She had lots of losses and called them her
'calamities'. She used true porcelain in an era when it was very difficult
to obtain it, use it and fire it. She knew that she would have fewer losses
if she used stoneware but she stayed with the porcelain. I really admire her
for this. I hope that you are well, that your work goes well and that this
answers your question. Cordially, Richard Zakin"
Bruce Girrell on wed 1 aug 01
Merrie,
Thanks for posting that. The question about "ceramics is about loss" comes
up with sufficient regularity that some art professors somewhere must be
assigning it as homework and each new class that gets the assignment hops
onto Clayart to get the "answer". At least now we can refer them to the
archives for the Real Answer.
Bruce "sure, I'll do your homework - if you give me your diploma" Girrell
Carolsan on wed 1 aug 01
> The question about "ceramics is about loss" comes
> up with sufficient regularity that some art professors somewhere must be
> assigning it as homework and each new class that gets the assignment hops
> onto Clayart to get the "answer".
Bruce "sure, I'll do your homework - if you give me your diploma" Girrell>
Regardless of the redundancy, I would think one should applaud the
instructor who attempted to stimulate his students and led them to pursue
answers from Clayarters, where possibilities are endless, of course. I,
for one, enjoyed the contemplation.
Regards,
Carolsan Burkhart
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