Mark Leuthold

A couple weeks a ago we were assinged to look through Ceramic Monthlys to look for inspiration. While going through one i found ceramics artist Mark Leuthold. His collections have entered the collections of the Metropolitan and Brooklyn Museums and the Museum of Art and Design. His work reflects the influence of the arts of Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. He is also a Associate Professor at the State University of New York and has taught at Princeton University and Parsons School of Design. The work that i looked at were his large porcelin slab wheels that he would carve into at the leather hard stage.

My artwork is at the right, it is aproximatly 6 inches in diamter. It has gone through its first firing and awaiting its second. Here is shown with the unfired glaze on it, the color should come out to turquoise, i am hoping that it will melt into the cracks and show the detail i have carved into it. Like Mark, i carved into it during the leather hard stage. I started with thicker and straighter lines and then moved to much thinner, highly curved lines. To do the carving i used a razor blade and the needle tool. Below is a picture of it in its leather hard stage after i had completed the carving.

The pictures below are pictures of it after being glazed. I really like the color and they way it came out, filling in all the dips. I have made a stand and am waiting for that to be fired for the final time.

RAKU

The raku firing technique was developed in Japan by Raku Chojiro over 450 years ago. The raku tea bowls were first made for Ceremonial Tea Ware of the Zen Buddhist Masters. The word raku signifies enjoyment of freedom. It was preferred by the Masters because of itshumility, tasteful unpretentiousness, simple naturalness, and its deliberate avoidance of luxury...all very important to the Zen philosophy. In Japanese Raku, the piece is quenched by immersing it in a concentrated solution of green tea immediatly after being removed from the kiln.

The difference with American Raku is after the red hot piece if removed from the kiln, it is put into a metal can with combustible material, like paper. The paper ignites and the smoke reacts with the glaze in unpredicted ways, affecting the surface differently. This is called post-fire reduction.

South African artists like Lorraine Marinkowitz have brought the raku technique to Africa as well within the last 20 years.

Steven Forbes-deSoule has been doing raku art for over 24 years, creating his own distinct style. His work has been featured in books and magazines and has been represented by galleries and museums nationwide. Recently he has been melting stained glass and glass rods on his unique "halo/opal" glaze, creating a variety of colors and textures.

Vicki Hardin is an established clay artist, working with clay for the last 21 years and producing raku and pit firing pieces. She has shown throughout the southwest region, e

xtensively in Texas, where she maintains her studio, Clay Art Pottery, home and family. She has recieved regional and national attention and praise for her work.

CLEANING THE GLAZE ROOM

Jacki and myself have been assigned to cleaning up the glaze room. It was a mess when we first went in but after a short 40 minutes it was looking ten times better. We swept the floor, organized powders, and gave all tables a good scrub down. It'll need more cleaning later but our first day was very productive.

Look how Clean!!!----------------->>

Jacki and I at prom! Nothing to clean there, just having fun.