The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”—Theodore Roethke
This line from Roethke came to my mind on looking at the latest ceramic works by Wally Schwab: a series of platters and vessels all uniformly glazed in matte black. For Schwab, an artist known primarily for his elaborate surfaces of complexly colored
fish-scale patterns and his decorative and luminously layered glazes, these latest works came as a surprise. More than just a paring down of color, they are a rejection of all applied embellishment to reveal the movement manipulated into the surface
of the clay itself. Glazes and decoration can conceal surfaces as much as they animate them. Compared to Schwab’s previous body of works, these plates and vessels are undressed, but they reveal a surprising sculptural dimensionality and numinous
presence.
Saturated Surfaces
To call these works black is not entirely accurate. Fired to cone 10, they have a high-alumina glaze that makes the surface refractory (matte) and, when saturated with metallic oxides of iron, manganese, cobalt, and chrome, the glaze becomes black in
the firing process. (Although the surface sometimes has the matte look of raku, raku is not involved.) Firing in a fuel-burning kiln under a low-oxygen atmosphere results in the slightly buffed, silvery-gray finish that reflects light differently
at each slight variation of surface, at times evocative of gunmetal, at other times of the ocean at night.
The sculptural meaning of the form is contained in this subtly shifting surface. The pieces in a series of organically shaped platters (though to call them by their supposed functional name seems to do them a disservice) are really sculptural reliefs,
sensitively modeled textures indicative of the patterns made in sand by tides, whose surface shimmers with the slightest motion of the observer to magically connect the metaphorical flow of water into the flow of light.
The ways in which the undulating, swirling forms in these works evoke the layered action of tides are positively hypnotic. The sense of reflectivity and absorption in the surface, down to the tiniest variation in grain, adds a whole new dimension to the
sculptural qualities of the clay.
Functional, Yet Sculptural
I cannot imagine eating off these pieces, nor would I want to. The undressed art of such works seems to pose the old question: are these functional pieces or works of sculpture? In Schwab’s work, to separate the two is a challenge because he is
always attuned to the sculptural qualities of a casserole dish or even a simple mug, yet these black works seem the most directly sculptural of any I have seen by him. To view them as pure sculpture transforms them, though they never entirely lose
their associations with functional ware, even when that association seems largely symbolic.
This elegant platter, for example, embossed in tight, horizontal rows from stamps fabricated by the artist, substitutes his signature decorative patterns (formerly painted on the surfaces of his platters) with relief embossing, whose rhythms the
alumina glaze shows to great advantage. The variety and number of these elements suggest some ancient cuneiform calendar. Another circular plate contains a large square embossed in alternating smaller-weave squares, suggestive of colorful Kente cloth
translated into gray-scale relief. But I would not want to see these works colorized with glazes any more than I want to see the films Casablanca, or The Third Man colorized. Let these velvety blacks and silvery grays work their
magic.
Many works in this series have a mysterious austerity. This was always a quality of Schwab’s sculptural forms, though not of his surfaces. A series of donut-shaped vessels can only balance on their necks, making their functionality as vessels highly
improbable. They stand defiantly and imperiously, like visitors from another planet, asserting their sovereign sculptural identity, alternately polished, gritty, scored, or speckled.
The most clearly functional object in this series is a lidded teapot with a large, hooped handle and a smaller looped finger hold at the base. The dance of curves between handle, spout, finger loop, and the concave, double-bell forms of the body and lid
makes for a fetching, playful silhouette. I recall an early variant of this form with elaborate surface designs, but I prefer this undressed version.
The late work of artists often demonstrates a paring down of the precocious tricks of youthful ambition in favor of a distillation of what is essential (the late works of Titian or Picasso are good examples of this). These late works by Wally Schwab suggest
to me a similar thread: they are a lesson in conserving energy, and suggestive of the toughness of what is left when so much else has been burned or worn away. The long and distinguished career of this ceramic artist has a new chapter, but one that
is down to the bone. Roethke, in the same poem I quoted at the outset, writes: “A man goes far to find out what he is— /Death of the self in a long, tearless night.” As one version of the self is shed, another surprising one for
this artist may yet appear.
the author Mark Andres is a painter and filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon.
We understand your email address is private. You will receive emails and newsletters from Ceramic Arts Network. We will never share your information except as outlined in our privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
You have read of of your complimentary articles for the month.
For unlimited access to Ceramics Monthly premium content, subscribe right now for as low as $4.85/month.
We understand your email address is private. You will receive emails and newsletters from Ceramic Arts Network. We will never share your information except as outlined in our privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Subscribe to Ceramics Monthly
The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”—Theodore Roethke
This line from Roethke came to my mind on looking at the latest ceramic works by Wally Schwab: a series of platters and vessels all uniformly glazed in matte black. For Schwab, an artist known primarily for his elaborate surfaces of complexly colored fish-scale patterns and his decorative and luminously layered glazes, these latest works came as a surprise. More than just a paring down of color, they are a rejection of all applied embellishment to reveal the movement manipulated into the surface of the clay itself. Glazes and decoration can conceal surfaces as much as they animate them. Compared to Schwab’s previous body of works, these plates and vessels are undressed, but they reveal a surprising sculptural dimensionality and numinous presence.
Saturated Surfaces
To call these works black is not entirely accurate. Fired to cone 10, they have a high-alumina glaze that makes the surface refractory (matte) and, when saturated with metallic oxides of iron, manganese, cobalt, and chrome, the glaze becomes black in the firing process. (Although the surface sometimes has the matte look of raku, raku is not involved.) Firing in a fuel-burning kiln under a low-oxygen atmosphere results in the slightly buffed, silvery-gray finish that reflects light differently at each slight variation of surface, at times evocative of gunmetal, at other times of the ocean at night.
The sculptural meaning of the form is contained in this subtly shifting surface. The pieces in a series of organically shaped platters (though to call them by their supposed functional name seems to do them a disservice) are really sculptural reliefs, sensitively modeled textures indicative of the patterns made in sand by tides, whose surface shimmers with the slightest motion of the observer to magically connect the metaphorical flow of water into the flow of light.
The ways in which the undulating, swirling forms in these works evoke the layered action of tides are positively hypnotic. The sense of reflectivity and absorption in the surface, down to the tiniest variation in grain, adds a whole new dimension to the sculptural qualities of the clay.
Functional, Yet Sculptural
I cannot imagine eating off these pieces, nor would I want to. The undressed art of such works seems to pose the old question: are these functional pieces or works of sculpture? In Schwab’s work, to separate the two is a challenge because he is always attuned to the sculptural qualities of a casserole dish or even a simple mug, yet these black works seem the most directly sculptural of any I have seen by him. To view them as pure sculpture transforms them, though they never entirely lose their associations with functional ware, even when that association seems largely symbolic.
This elegant platter, for example, embossed in tight, horizontal rows from stamps fabricated by the artist, substitutes his signature decorative patterns (formerly painted on the surfaces of his platters) with relief embossing, whose rhythms the alumina glaze shows to great advantage. The variety and number of these elements suggest some ancient cuneiform calendar. Another circular plate contains a large square embossed in alternating smaller-weave squares, suggestive of colorful Kente cloth translated into gray-scale relief. But I would not want to see these works colorized with glazes any more than I want to see the films Casablanca, or The Third Man colorized. Let these velvety blacks and silvery grays work their magic.
Many works in this series have a mysterious austerity. This was always a quality of Schwab’s sculptural forms, though not of his surfaces. A series of donut-shaped vessels can only balance on their necks, making their functionality as vessels highly improbable. They stand defiantly and imperiously, like visitors from another planet, asserting their sovereign sculptural identity, alternately polished, gritty, scored, or speckled.
The most clearly functional object in this series is a lidded teapot with a large, hooped handle and a smaller looped finger hold at the base. The dance of curves between handle, spout, finger loop, and the concave, double-bell forms of the body and lid makes for a fetching, playful silhouette. I recall an early variant of this form with elaborate surface designs, but I prefer this undressed version.
The late work of artists often demonstrates a paring down of the precocious tricks of youthful ambition in favor of a distillation of what is essential (the late works of Titian or Picasso are good examples of this). These late works by Wally Schwab suggest to me a similar thread: they are a lesson in conserving energy, and suggestive of the toughness of what is left when so much else has been burned or worn away. The long and distinguished career of this ceramic artist has a new chapter, but one that is down to the bone. Roethke, in the same poem I quoted at the outset, writes: “A man goes far to find out what he is— /Death of the self in a long, tearless night.” As one version of the self is shed, another surprising one for this artist may yet appear.
the author Mark Andres is a painter and filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon.
Unfamiliar with any terms in this article? Browse our glossary of pottery terms!
Click the cover image to return to the Table of Contents