Woodfire Scribblings

Continued web site upgrade and notes about some of the tiles from September, 2007:

Older work including heads, lichens, paper weights, tiles, boats, boxes.

Winter is finally here! And not just the pretend version of the past few years, but more like those from my youth with snow and cold weather for days on end. It is wonderful to have seasons show their true colors.

If you were expecting to hear about the late October/ November firing, I must apologize. After collecting the firing wood for it my elbows were quite painful from tendonitis. But the kiln was fired last week and is now cooling with unloading expected December 20–22. I will post photos as soon as possible after that, weather and the holidays allowing.

In the interlude I thought I would continue the web site upgrade by moving the photos of the older work to one gallery and say just a few words about that work.

The heads began in about 1990. Initially they were all free standing about 2–3 inches tall without any accoutrements. Over the years they diversified through the addition of hats, glasses, cigarettes and cigars as well as being able to be wall mounted. Eventually they ranged up to about 36 inches tall weighing about 150 pounds. They were solid forms from the beginning and lead me to work in forms where weight was integral.

The tiles started off in response to pages from illuminated manuscripts moving on to references to Old Testament religious items. The tiles ranged up in size from about 6 x 6 x ¾ inches and a few pounds to about 24 x 24 x 2 ½ inches weighing about 75 pounds. As this work became more abstract, references to technology—integrated circuits, space maps and architecture—were incorporated. At this time the tiles became much more three dimensional and I began using glass as decoration. (Fusing the glass to the tiles during firing requires them to be laid flat in the kiln which is part of the reason these type of tiles cost more.) This was the norm until about 2000, when after a trip to Iceland I began to focus almost entirely on landforms and forces that affect them.

Two of the most dramatic processes to affect the earth are volcanoes and meteor impacts. The challenge was how to bring some of that to the tiles. As with most things in the world of art, there are obvious ways to approach new design issues, but like all things in the world we, as humans, make this inherently more difficult by adding our own social overlay. The obvious answer is the use of fireworks or explosives.

Since I became involved in ceramics in about 1989 there have been a fair number of people that have either used fireworks (in both small amounts and lately some have used large doses of them) and firearms (while the clay is wet through the actual firing). I first actually experienced the use of them from watching ceramist Jon Wilson sometime not long after 1989. The process is seductive and very nicely gets at the explosive power of the two processes I was trying to display after 2000. But in the world of art there is a strong prejudice against using someone else's solution. I was very hesitant to use fireworks because of my connection to Wilson until it had become apparent that a fair number of others were using similar techniques. Even so, and given the rich variety of the surface of the earth, I can begin to sense the end of another series of work as I have explored what I wanted to the point of losing interest.

Unlike the tiles, the lichens were born almost fully formed. There were a few subtle changes over time, but only the introduction of breaking the surface and continuity of the wood forms circa 2002 was a major development. The change was inspired by wanting to reflect more of the decay of the trees that the series was based on but also the draw in references to architecture. Like the tiles, the reaching of maturity in the forms left them less interesting to pursue, but the limited number of the Lichens that I have made over time leaves me more energy to pursue them on occasion going forward.

Guessing that the photo update to the December firing will be late I will wish you all the best in 2008!

jek
December 2007

 

 

Work From the September 2007 Firing:

Cone jars, egg/eggplant jars, tiles, vases, bowls, platters and introduction to the new web site format
Work from the September firing

With this update the format for the Prairie Dog Pottery, Inc. website will change. Rather than continue to try to classify the types of pieces and place them together with like things from various firings, the works in an individual firing will be pictured together as a group. This is in response to my efforts to find new forms with which to replace the “heads” and also become continuing styles so that galleries can make decisions and plans. But after almost two years of searching it has become clear that any such “standard” forms are unlikely.

This new format will require me to write more, and more often, to help put the work into some context. Additionally this will (hopefully) provide the needed push to get me to write some of my general thoughts and comments about woodfiring as well as introduce you to other woodfiring ceramists. It is my intent to try and use consistent names for forms and to provide a list of forms in a given firing in the title line for each update.

A note about the size and weight of the objects is in order as I am still working up to measuring the pieces while photographing them (and getting the two items linked together). The bowls weigh about 20 pounds and the maximum dimension ranges from 9 to 18 inches. The vases weigh about 22 pounds and range in height from 9 to 13 inches. The tiles weigh about 22 pounds, are about 16 inches on the long side and are provided with attached hardware for hanging on a wall. The diameter of the shoulder of the cone jars is about 22 inches and they weigh about 60 pounds. The egg/eggplant jars as a series range from about 30 inches tall weighing about 70 pounds to the two pictured with this update weighing about 150 pounds and being about 32 inches maximum diameter. I hope the names are descriptive enough to connect with the proper images.

I insert below the text for a show of my work from early 2007 to give some feel for where the work pictured in this update (as well as the next update to follow in November) has its roots. The next update will further discuss the new forms, aspects of the two fall firings, and what might be on the horizon for spring 2008. Hint: look for something old to go with the new :)

Here in the Mid-West fall is in the air. Clay and supplies are ordered for my winter studio time. Wood supply for the late October firing has been arranged. Come the end of November the studio will be cleared of everything awaiting high fire for the first time in years.

jek
September 2007

 

 

The Ritual Vessel: Science, Nature, Gods:

A show at Iowa Artisans Gallery, March 2007
Bowls exhibited at Iowa Artisans Gallery

Editing and suggestions from Jim Downey are gratefully acknowledged.

Since I began my professional pottery career most of my work has been a celebration of the explicitly individual—stylized human heads—and the implicitly individual—small scale works.

In this new body of work I am looking at the collective through scale and artistic intent. A full discussion will have to wait, as I am still gathering my thoughts to put them onto paper in a clear and concise manner. But in an effort to give the viewer some sense of what I am considering, I will risk a few roughly formulated thoughts.

Nature is the beginning for both religion and science. In the earliest human efforts at understanding the world they were closely allied if not inseparable. Although there had been earlier efforts to develop science separate from religion, it was not until the Enlightenment a schism developed in the broader social fabric. In the effort to maintain the precepts of revealed religion many faiths closed the door on the admission of new literature and revelation. But science continued looking at the world, and showed many of those parts of the ancient texts dealing with the natural world to be in error.

Science as part of its process requires the testing and change of “rules” and continues to focus on the universe. Religion has focused primarily on humankind and its issues, and in many cases only recently came to the debate about the environment. Even then for a number of faiths there has been tension between man’s control of nature and the exhortation to be fruitful and multiply. Science has continued to develop a predictive understanding of nature but has left the place of mankind in the grand scheme of things as a small footnote. (Despite the important implications of environmental science about our impact on our surroundings, science by its nature does not tell us what we should do or not do, nor is environmental science but a very small portion of the entire scientific endeavor. Thus there is no internal tension in the actual structure of science.)

For my current purposes I am interested not so much in this aspect of the two disciplines, but in the questions each cannot answer in a clear and intellectually satisfying manner.

Science describes nature, but does not explain it. The Big Bang and the idea of a bounded universe are natural points for people to wonder about “before” and “outside”. The idea of evolution and the small place that Earth holds in the universe leave many wondering about the questions of a purpose for mankind, of life and death, and afterlife. And the discipline of science, despite significant efforts to do so, does not provide a basis for the meaningful development of ethics.

Religion concerns itself with just those aspects of our curiosity and needs. But in so doing, it has historically bound itself to world views that are not in comport with scientific understanding, has brought its historic documents detailing the cruelty accepted by gods if not actually required by them and does not allow for revolutionary change in its structure. Hence we have many faiths today, but only one science. However, for many people religion successfully dealt with ethics and the issues of life and death. But in viewing these and other unpleasantries as the result of sin or evil in the world there is no meaningful way to intellectually paper over the tension with a loving, omniscient, omnipotent god despite a great deal of rhetorical effort to do so. (For example, an early Catholic Church Father wrote large amount of text dealing with such issues. He was widely read and discussed until late in life he put forth the notion that all people would be given eternal life with God and there was no Hell. His writings were dropped from the recommended reading list thereafter. A 16th Century Japanese religious figure argued that there was no judgment based on behavior and that all ritual was unnecessary. He is now venerated with, and prayed to in, one of the largest wooden temples in the world. The counter argument is almost always centered on some form of testing an individual’s faith or punishment and not on the root issue. The story of Job and the words of Mother Theresa are two such examples.) Failure to allow for changes of belief within any given faith sets up a tension which can lead to schism. And the new splinter faith will tend to formulate their beliefs in a manner which denigrations the parent faith, or at a minimum will seek to minimize interaction and marriage with those outside the new faith.

But despite these differences there are similarities in the operation of the two disciplines. They are group efforts in day to day operations, having large budgets and buildings, and can bring out both the best and worst in individuals.

So I have chosen to work with vessels in the larger scale of the collective, but with direct links to the individual in use—bowls and platters that have a volume for serving many, vases that in scale and weight are more suited for semi-fixed locations and viewing from a distance by a group of people.

Purposeful decoration is drawn from elements of science (Hubble images, fossils and their casts, high energy physics, solid state physics, the history of science), elements and symbols of religion (the large group of symbols (crosses, stars, swastikas, sickles, etc), the human focal points (crucifixion, Buddha, iconoclasm (an anti-focal point), the mass of small faiths centered around more recent founders/revealers, etc)), and elements of process, both natural and manmade.

In this latter aspect, I leave as many of the marks as possible on the clay from its history of being mixed and shipped, forming the blocks into rectangular solids (reference to buildings and houses), and use a very limited set of tools leaving visible enough clues on the final object to decipher the entire forming process. I trim a shallow foot on the vessels as my clearest mark referring to the question of maker—human or divine—and anchoring the entirety to the basic needs of humankind—food, understanding, and social grouping and structures.

I don’t claim that all, or any, of this will make an impression on any given viewer. And I don’t even desire that it does so. I am quite contented, if, like a rainbow, it can be enjoyed simply as “eye candy.” But each vessel can also sit waiting for those whose contact with science, religion or personal reflection opens its viewing to the deeper satisfaction that comes from contemplation of the unanswerable questions. It is in these questions that our response to the world around us is formulated.

A final note about my work, I stopped signing pieces in 2001 following the death of my father, Dr. Joseph Kasper, who worked with Dr. James Van Allen (discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belts around the earth) and taught physics for many years at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA.

 

jek
February 2007

2008 Woodfire Scribblings
2006 Woodfire Scribblings
2005 Woodfire Scribblings