Ceramic Sculpture - Ceramic Arts Daily

Ceramic
Sculpture
Edited by Anderson Turner
Inspiring
Techniques
Ceramic
Arts
Handbook
Series

Ceramic
Sculpture
i

Edited by Anderson Turner
The American Ceramic Society
600 N. Cleveland Ave., Suite 210
Westerville, Ohio 43082
www.CeramicArtsDaily.org
Ceramic
Sculpture
Inspiring
Techniques
Ceramic
Arts
Handbook
Series

Ceramic Arts Handbook
iv
The American Ceramic Society
600 N. Cleveland Ave., Suite 210
Westerville, OH 43082
© 2009, 2011 by The American Ceramic Society, All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57498-300-5 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-57498-530-6 (PDF)
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer, who may quote brief passages in review.
Authorization to photocopy for internal or personal use beyond the limits of Sections
107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law is granted by The American Ceramic Society,
provided that the appropriate fee is paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center,
Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 U.S.A., www.copyright.com. Prior
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permission and reprint requests should be directed to Director, Publications, The
American Ceramic Society, 600 N. Cleveland Ave., Westerville, Ohio 43082 USA.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate.
Due to differing conditions, equipment, tools, and individual skills, the publisher
cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses, and other damages that may result
from the use of the information in this book. Final determination of the suitability of
any information, procedure or product for use contemplated by any user, and the
manner of that use, is the sole responsibility of the user. This book is intended for
informational purposes only.
The views, opinions and findings contained in this book are those of the author. The
publishers, editors, reviewers and author assume no responsibility or liability for
errors or any consequences arising from the use of the information contained herein.
Registered names and trademarks, etc., used in this publication, even without specific
indication thereof, are not to be considered unprotected by the law. Mention of trade
names of commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation
for use by the publishers, editors or authors.
Publisher: Charles Spahr, President, Ceramic Publications Company, a wholly owned
subsidiary of The American Ceramic Society
Art Book Program Manager: Bill Jones
Series Editor: Anderson Turner
Graphic Design and Production: Melissa Bury, Bury Design, Westerville, Ohio
Cover Images: “Immersion 17” by Kathy Venter; (top right) “Spheres with Cross” by
Barbro Åberg; (bottom right) “Floating Slabs Teapot” by Louis Marak
Frontispiece: “Spiked Log” by Mark Gordon

Contents
George McCauley: Life Experiences 1
Peter Held
Jim Koudelka: Layered Contraptions 7
Daniel Duford
Reflections on Accumulation 14
Wendy Walgate
Greg Penner: Casting Call 19
Braden Frieder
Growth in Change 23
Mark Chatterley
Adrian Arleo: Nature Studies 29
Marnie Prange
Jean-Pierre Larocque: Heads and Horses 37
Andy Nasisse
Immersion Series 44
Kathy Venter
Spraying Paper-Reinforced Clay 49
W. Lowell Baker
Paper Clay and Steel 53
Linda Mau
Barbro Åberg: Lightweight Sculpture 56
Ulla Munck Jørgensen
Gary Erickson: Organic Abstraction 61
Andrea Myklebust
Eva Kwong: Sculptural Vases 67
Kate Bonansinga
Kathleen Holmes: Dress Sculptures 71
Barbara Rizza Mellin

Slip-coated Fabric 74
Jen Champlin
Leigh Taylor Mickelson: Stacked Compositions 77
Mary K. Cloonan
Tile and Sculpture 81
Niel Amon
Right Angle Jig 87
Marcia Selsor
Sheri Leigh: Large-scale Slab Sculptures 89
Morgan Britt
Saggar-fired Sculptures 96
Mee-Kyung Nam
Mortar Construction 99
Mark Gordon
Patrick Crabb: Adobe Castings 103
George M. Tapley Jr.
Deirdre McLoughlin: Coiling Around Space 106
Nesrin During
Figurative Soft-Slab Sculpture 109
Dee Schaad
Louis Marak: Illusionary Sculpture 113
Cathy Ray Pierson
Catrin Mostyn Jones: Doing What Comes Naturally 118
Alex McErlain
Mary Fischer: Slab-built Structures 121
Jim LaVilla-Havelin
Rapid Prototyping 124
Steven Thurston
Nina Hole: Site-fired Kiln Sculpture 130
Glen R. Brown

Preface
As an artist, educator and gallery director, I’ve spent many hours looking at
and thinking about art and art making. Often I’m looking for inspiration for
my own work or for a curatorial idea I have brewing. Many times I’ve sent students
to look someone up, so they can better understand the artist’s ideas and
techniques in order to better inform their own work.
This book is a great tool for exactly that process. From beginning to end it
contains details about the making process. As a gallery director I’m forever reintroducing
patrons to people and ideas that everyone should hold dear. While
in my own art I may stick to a certain aesthetic, as an educator/curator I find,
as I grow older, a fondness for all art making. Most importantly I feel my students
and patrons often lack an understanding of the value of their education
and are more worried about what it can get them than what they can learn.
I also feel strongly that art making is a research driven activity. The information
contained in this book is written by some of the more innovative and
interesting minds working in ceramics today. While not all of the ideas are
necessarily groundbreaking, they are unique in their individual approach to
the use of the material. How these artists researched and successfully used the
processes they set out to is inspirational, informative and important. I hope
you find the research contained in these pages as exciting as I do.
Anderson Turner
Ceramic
Sculpture
vii

George McCauley
Life Experiences
by Peter Held
Through their work, artists
communicate a full range
of emotions, perceptions
and spiritual explorations. George
McCauley shapes these varied life
experiences into clay forms that are
assembled as wholly personal and revealing
sculpture. Prior to studying
art, his vocational positions included
carpenter, concrete inspector, waiter
and chef, mechanic, horse trainer
and aluminum-siding salesman.
Like many of his contemporaries,
McCauley was drawn to clay after
his initial introduction, a classic case
of the “love at first touch” syndrome.
Ron Meyers at the University of
Georgia, was a significant role model.
At the University of South Carolina,
Meyers fostered an environment of
experimental freedom, instilling in
McCauley a sense of discovery and
excitement for the medium.
The work of Peter Voulkos
also has been a strong influence.
“Voulkos works as if the pieces come
out of him, not by him,” observes
McCauley. “His devotion to making
art, breaking new ground and
his abilities to make works that are
about what he wants to make are
Candelabrum, 43 inches in height, wheel-thrown
and handbuilt earthenware, soda fired.
Ceramic
Sculpture
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Ceramic Arts Handbook
2
McCauley hand trimming excess
clay from thrown shapes prior to
assemblage.
in spirational. The seemingly casual
appearance and freedom evident in
his work are what I strive for in my
own creative endeavors.”
George Ohr’s persona and art also
hold a particularly strong fascination
for McCauley. Billing himself
as the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” Ohr
was a nonconformist who created a
distinctive body of work that challenged
the status quo of the day.
Both McCauley and Ohr share a hirsute
sensibility as well, sporting ample
mustaches reflecting flamboyant
personalities.
Having spent the greater part of
his childhood residing in Georgia and
South Carolina, McCauley absorbed
the rich history of folk-art traditions
of the South, particularly those of
the Jugtown potters. For a time, he
emulated these artists—inhabiting
a rustic home in the country, surrounded
by yard art and integrating
his creative endeavors with the art
of everyday living. “I have fancied
myself as a kind of folk artist, not
as a primitive or naïve practitioner,
but relating to the complete sense
of freedom in their work. Folk artists
make what they want to make
and create their art completely from
within.”
Myths and archetypal symbols,
some relating to his childhood growing
up in a strict Greek Orthodox
home, play a significant role in
McCauley’s work. He has a strong interest
in the rituals and ceremonies
found in world cultures. He is fascinated
with religious objects such
as icons, shrines and vestments.
Universal symbols—concentric life
spirals, the mati (an open palm with
an eye)—are incorporated in his
work to express needs or desires.
This implies a personal narrative
invoking historical significance.
Compositionally, McCauley is
drawn to an unconventional organization
of objects, disturbing juxtapositions
and, at times, fantastic
extravagance. Fleshy figures cavort
with a menagerie of barnyard animals,
fish, a jumble of cups, saucers
and other miniature pots. He interweaves
dopey-eyed reptiles suffering
from heatstroke in the arid desert
and skeletal remains on cylindrical
candlesticks. His totemic candelabra
and house sculptures are similar to
trees of life, a marriage between the
animal and human worlds.

Covered jar, 26 inches in height, earthenware, iron wash and glaze, soda fired.
photos: george mccauley, craig sharpe
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Sculpture
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Ceramic Arts Handbook
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Wall sconce, 21 inches in height, wheel-thrown and handbuilt earthenware, with
terra sigillata, soda fired to cone 02.
There is a narrative quality to
the work, begging for a story to unfold.
McCauley denies any strict
interpretation, but, rather, places
a deeper importance on the meaning
of the subject matter. “My work
is narrative in the sense that I am
saying something about my feelings,
not always telling a story.”
Some of the relationships impart
humor, at times salacious, and he
feels this is a good enough reason to
create.
A freedom of process, where revisions
and changes are evident, not
hidden or refined to the point of obscuring
the hand of the maker, also
appeals to McCauley. “I am process
oriented in most of my endeavors.
The act of making and the vitality of
the construction are very important
to me. I alter my work when it is soft

so that I can keep all the nuances of
the construction—I want the working
process to remain evident in feeling
and posture. Techniques have
become less important as the years
go by—giving way to a looser method
of working.”
McCauley is primarily concerned
with the making of objects, so his
work is mostly wheel thrown, then
altered and accented with handbuilt
additions. Earthenware best suits
his needs, and “soda firing completes
the soft, sensual feel I strive for.”
Most of his glazes are cone 10 reduction
recipes that are fired in the
cone 08–02 range in a soda or vapor
atmosphere, as well as in an electric
kiln. The dry and irregular surfaces
enhance the imagery. Some of his
works, particularly those with hues
of purple and deep blue, take on an
apocalyptic cast, looking like postnuclear
relics.
The color palette is generally
muted. Some of his glazing strategies
include undercoating with slips
and terra sigillatas on leather-hard
or bisqued surfaces, then pouring
glaze overall and wiping off most.
Occasionally, he simply applies a
kaolin wash, then fires to cone 02 in
a soda kiln. Other times after firing,
a sprinkling of dry glaze, dirt or grog
is applied, and the work refired.
Fundamentals and technique are
merely a means to an end. McCauley
chooses to do whatever is necessary,
disregarding efficiency or practicality
over a path that will achieve
the results that best reflect his
sensibilities.
Candlestick, approximately 30 inches
in height, soda-fired earthenware,
by George McCauley.
McCauley has concentrated on
creating a body of work composed
of personal statements and expressions
about a life dedicated to the
creative act. His sculptures convey
the idea that a magical dimension
of life—partly lost in the rush of
modernity—can be recaptured and
embraced without hesitation.
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Sculpture
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Ceramic Arts Handbook
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Recipes
Blood on the Saddle Earthenware
Cone 08–02
Custer Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .9 %
Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .9
Carbondale Clay . . . . . . . . . . . 39 .6
Fireclay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 .7
Grog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 .9
100 .0 %
Add 25% Cedar Heights Redart for a darker body
to be used in oxidation .
Green Barium Matt Glaze
Blue Barium Matt Glaze
Cone 10
Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 40 %
Spodumene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 45
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
100 %
Add: Black Copper Oxide . . . . . 4 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 %
For a green variation, replace the copper oxide
with 5% iron oxide .
Cone 10
Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 37 .3 %
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 48 .1
Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .1
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .5
100 .0 %
Add: Black Copper Oxide . . . . . 2 .0 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %
Purple Barium Matt Glaze
Cone 10
Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 36 .5 %
Nepheline Syenite . . . . . . . . . . 44 .2
Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .9
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .4
100 .0 %
Add: Copper Carbonate . . . . . . 3 .0 %
When using barium compounds, be aware of the
toxic nature of this chemical . Always wear a respi-
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %
rator and gloves when mixing glazes . To avoid the
barium risk, McCauley has begun to substitute
Green Glaze
strontium carbonate for barium carbonate in a
ratio of ¾ to 1 .
Cone 08–6
Barium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . 22 .2 %
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .1
G-200 Feldspar . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 .4
EPK Kaolin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .2
Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .1
100 .0 %
Add: Zinc Oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .0 %
Copper Carbonate . . . . . . 10 .5 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 .0 %
White Glaze
Cone 08–1
Ferro Frit 3124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 %
Ball Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
100 %
Add: Opax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 %
Bentonite . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 %
Mottled Brown Glaze
Cone 08–6
Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 .0 %
Gerstley Borate . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 .2
Alberta Slip Clay . . . . . . . . . . . 34 .8
100 .0 %
Terra Sigillata
Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 lb
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
21 lb
Mix 50 grams sodium silicate into the water, then
add the clay . Decant mixture for 24 hours; siphon
off water . Lift out the top layer of slip with hands .
Yields 1 quart of thick slip . For application, thin
with additional water . Variations include adding
5% Gerstley borate without decanting, colored
stains added by eye, or using throwing water .