Diving Into the World of Ceramics

One of my many classes at Biola University this semester is Ceramics I - "An introductory level course designed to provide a broad understanding of the craft and study as a fine art medium." As a way to enhance this process of learning ceramics, I will be regularly posting about various ideas within the world of ceramics, including artists, techniques, and movements. So, here we go...


One of the first three techniques that we learned this past week was that of slab building. I was not necessarily interested in building a normal box with this style, for I did that in high school ceramics and wanted to challenge myself to do something new. I liked the style of rolling the slabs and connecting them at the overlap, rather than connecting square cutouts of slabs, so I decided to do this for our first project. Then, while I was browsing through our textbook The Ceramics Bible by Louisa Taylor, I saw the beautiful work of Elke Sada on pages 7 and 15. She not only incorporated the style of rolling and overlapping her slabs to form cups and pitchers, but she also had beautifully painted designs on them. I was instantly inspired!

Capriccio pitcher and mugs

Earthenware with engobe painting. Height of the mugs: 10 cm, height of the pitcher: 27 cm. 

Photo: Michael Wurzbach.

Source: http://www.artaurea.com/objects/81-elke-sada

 

 

Cylindrical Capriccio vases 

Earthenware with engobe painting. Height: 37cm, 32.5 cm and 41 cm. Photo: Evelin Frerk

Source: http://www.artaurea.com/objects/81-elke-sada

On this site, artaurea.com, I learned that Elke's style is not normal, or one that I would have guessed she used. Instead of building her ceramic objects, firing them, and then glazing them, she first creates abstract paintings using engobe, which is a "pigmented watery suspension of clays and other minerals." She then applies the clay directly on top of the paintings, allowing it to soak up the "paint" and then forms the leather-hard clay into these cylindrical objects. How fascinating this process is!


I think it is especially captivating to me since my first love in art is painting. It seems like such an innovative style of ceramics, and one that I would very much love to try on my own one day.










Top and bottom images from http://www.internationalceramicsfestival.org/speakers/elke_sada/