Untitled: 5198II

Trying to describe the slight metallic pearlescent cream glaze, and how it interacts with the fluid blue gloss glaze is downright impossible. The recrystalization of the fluid blue is almost like watching ice form on a still pond.  This platter was shown in the Ithaca Ceramics Exhibition back in 2008 and is still available for purchase or for exhibition.

As you get closer and closer to the details, you can see that there are crystals that are partly submerged in the blue glaze. I wonder if they are growing up or down through the glass!

Waves Upon the Shore : 9298A

 9298A, Waves Upon the Shore, cone 7, fired for three days and cooled for 1 day, 1998.

Purple-Black Storm (9298B)

Purple-Black Storm, (9298B), 16" diameter, fired to cone 8 over three days and cooled for two days.

It is amazing seeing these platters again. The level of detail in the closeup images just blows my mind. I wish I had enough wall space to show them all off, all the time! They really need to be seen, with good light, at eye level, to really appreciate them.

A Pale River - 9298H

A Pale River - 9298H 

It's hard to describe the feathery crystals that create the movement along the edge where these two glazes meet. Like the shoreline at high tide, with the waves pulling back... the shore gives some and takes some. In this case, the glaze changes with every layering interaction.

Nailing Jello to the Wall - 11799B

Nailing Jello to the Wall, 11799B, 1999

This platter was glazed on one of those nights where I was definitely burning the candle at both ends. Never mind that my ex-wife and I were fighting non-stop... so being home wasn't worth being there for... and never mind the strife in the studio.... I just kept right on glazing. Sometimes I would glaze for two to three days, non-stop. Would load one kiln and get it rolling after days of glazing, and completely forget what I had put into the kiln. Then I would resort to my glaze notebooks which looked like sick mixed with coffee stains (I dont drink coffee)....covered in dry glaze powder. And I wonder why some of my glaze ideas turned out completely backwards. Yeah... I was my own worst enemy as I worked on these platters. Once in while, they resulted in some fantastic colors and textures... other times, not so much. Of the dozen platters that went into this firing, only two survived and of those, only this one made it to NY.

Many Worlds In One - 22698C

Many Worlds In One, 22698C, 1998. 

This platter came out of the second firing I ever did with this series. I had only thrown 4 disks/platters. Everything else in the firing was handbuilt, almost like square or rectangular trays. I don't have many images of the rectangular pieces. I may have to spend some time this coming month trying to get new images made of them. It is exciting seeing the earliest pieces, because the ideas were so fresh. Nothing had become expected. Each platter was such a new experiment. The uncertainty bordered on insanity. The loss rates exceeded 90%. But, there was such a phenomenal learning curve happening that it was heady. Each successful platter gave birth to ten more of which one of two might survive.

Much Too Much - 23098A

Much Too Much - 23098A, 1998, fired to cone 8 over 2 days, and cooled for two days.

Meaningless Stripes - 23098C

Meaningless Stripes - 23098C, 1998, available for purchase

What To Do? (42398A)

Oasis Amidst the Wasteland (42398A), 1998 

I have been getting lots of inquiries lately as to why my writing about these platters has dropped off recently. There is a short answer and a long one.
The short answer is that I don't have it in me to write more at the moment.

The long answer is harder. It takes time for me to shape. And it hurts.

These platters came into being at a time in my life when I was finishing grad school in Utah. I felt like my whole life was in front of me. I was starting to apply for professorships all over the country. My daughter was almost two and a half years old. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yep, it was a train. At some point I will try to put into words what that train wreck was like. At this point, the part that matters most is the emotional content these platters still carry for me. I can't see them through other people's eyes. I certainly don't want anyone to see them for what I saw them for.

But after having been boxed up for more than a decade, seeing them out of their crates, in the daylight or under the strobes in the photo studio... it is a whole new experience. While I remember all that went into making them (right down to the feeling of mixing up the glazes and the texture of the slurry through my hands as I glazed these big monsters)... but also the emotions that filled my mind as I was making the series.

In retrospect, it wasn't the beginning of a whole new world as much as it was the end of one. I just didn't know that then.

82598A - Frozen Puddles Cracking in the Baking Sun

Whenever these platters are exhibited, I get scores of questions relating to the technical nature of the glazes. Ironically, that is NOT what these are about. At first they were ALL about the technical. As I got farther into the research, they became emotional canvases for me to express the profound relationships I saw between materials and temperature. Yeah, that sounds like total bullshit. I know. My professor thought so too. I don't really give a shit anymore. What I learned was tremendous. Things that I assumed to be absolute truths are in fact very lazy observations. Conservative and optimistic assumptions. By discarding those assumptions I was treated to a completely new experience... in glaze. 

One thing I wish I had been able to experiment with (and maybe some day it will happen) is trying to get these glazes OFF the clay surface. Seems counter to the concept of how pottery works. Imagine these disks of color, suspended in front of a glass wall.... no opaque clay behind the surface.... just letting light pour through the cracks and thin translucent areas. It would be fantastic! I was never able to explore the idea of creating a releasing agent to free them from their clay frame. Definitely something I would love to see some day.