Of all the inspiring processes in this issue, it is a studio project referenced by artist Eric Botbyl that got my attention: “In 2019, my daughter, Evie, and I began an ambitious and burgeoning test-tile project, which now adorns one entire wall of my studio.” (See below.) Eric’s undertaking may have only been a means to an end for him (the effort to identify and record potential surfaces and colors), but the result became a beautiful installation; it is the path to this end which I find compelling. I often get caught up in the process of ceramics, to the point where I wonder why I need to fire at all. I am always trying to figure out how to make things when I see them. I am often asked what I’m making and rarely have a definitive answer, because it’s not the point. I love to learn new techniques more for the fun of trying them, and less for the purpose of creating an object to possess or sell. I have learned over the years that the process is my product. Once I got over needing a tangible item to prove my time in the studio, it all made so much more sense.
While a painstaking process is not the intent of every ceramic artist, in curating this issue, I increasingly found more and more ceramic artists gravitating toward work with a lengthier approach to process, and that commitment feels very intentional. Ceramic artists are certainly not shying away from how long it takes to make. Being mindful, intentional with analog time, creating a state of focused flow, and developing a range of skills is the clear pursuit. This feels like the next evolution of how a studio practice is pursued and what an artist needs to achieve from it.
In this issue, surface decoration is the focus, and each artist dives into the deep end. Becky Meneely uses myriad layers of stencils, glazes, and resists to create a wrap-around collage on her bowls. Be Rose starts with a simple grid on her mugs and adds a multitude of colored squares, stamped sprigs, and slip-trailed dots that evolve into quilt-like designs. Marissa Y Alexander covers her lidded forms with detailed motifs where each piece is first outlined, then meticulously filled in with a bulb syringe of glaze. Ted Saupe builds upon his patchwork surfaces with stream-of-consciousness drawings. Steph Wallace uses a resist and a needle tip to scratch out fine lines. Sarah Leckie applies thick swaths of underglaze onto brushes with a palette knife to generate watercolor brushstrokes on her surfaces. Caroline Roberts doesn’t shy away from the time it takes; she digs her own clay for her surface slips. And, Eric Botbyl, after choosing a color palette from his test-tile wall, glazes, bisque fires, and sands his pots multiple times to create a surface similar to an atmospheric one no longer available to him.
Now it’s your turn. What process are you going to learn today? How will you spend your time in the studio? Cheers!
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Of all the inspiring processes in this issue, it is a studio project referenced by artist Eric Botbyl that got my attention: “In 2019, my daughter, Evie, and I began an ambitious and burgeoning test-tile project, which now adorns one entire wall of my studio.” (See below.) Eric’s undertaking may have only been a means to an end for him (the effort to identify and record potential surfaces and colors), but the result became a beautiful installation; it is the path to this end which I find compelling. I often get caught up in the process of ceramics, to the point where I wonder why I need to fire at all. I am always trying to figure out how to make things when I see them. I am often asked what I’m making and rarely have a definitive answer, because it’s not the point. I love to learn new techniques more for the fun of trying them, and less for the purpose of creating an object to possess or sell. I have learned over the years that the process is my product. Once I got over needing a tangible item to prove my time in the studio, it all made so much more sense.
While a painstaking process is not the intent of every ceramic artist, in curating this issue, I increasingly found more and more ceramic artists gravitating toward work with a lengthier approach to process, and that commitment feels very intentional. Ceramic artists are certainly not shying away from how long it takes to make. Being mindful, intentional with analog time, creating a state of focused flow, and developing a range of skills is the clear pursuit. This feels like the next evolution of how a studio practice is pursued and what an artist needs to achieve from it.
In this issue, surface decoration is the focus, and each artist dives into the deep end. Becky Meneely uses myriad layers of stencils, glazes, and resists to create a wrap-around collage on her bowls. Be Rose starts with a simple grid on her mugs and adds a multitude of colored squares, stamped sprigs, and slip-trailed dots that evolve into quilt-like designs. Marissa Y Alexander covers her lidded forms with detailed motifs where each piece is first outlined, then meticulously filled in with a bulb syringe of glaze. Ted Saupe builds upon his patchwork surfaces with stream-of-consciousness drawings. Steph Wallace uses a resist and a needle tip to scratch out fine lines. Sarah Leckie applies thick swaths of underglaze onto brushes with a palette knife to generate watercolor brushstrokes on her surfaces. Caroline Roberts doesn’t shy away from the time it takes; she digs her own clay for her surface slips. And, Eric Botbyl, after choosing a color palette from his test-tile wall, glazes, bisque fires, and sands his pots multiple times to create a surface similar to an atmospheric one no longer available to him.
Now it’s your turn. What process are you going to learn today? How will you spend your time in the studio? Cheers!
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