Movers and Shakers in American Ceramics
By Elaine Levin
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Clearance Just $29.95 for all three books while supplies last! This remarkable collection of Ceramics Monthly articles, all written by Elaine Levin, tells the stories of some of the most notable figures of the ceramic art movement in the U.S. Levin relates the struggles and successes of 26 movers and shakers dedicated to unselfishly pushing ceramic art into uncharted territory so others could enjoy and benefit from their efforts. From Binns, Baggs, Robineau and the Wildenhains, through Voulkos and Soldner, the stories in Movers and Shakers in American Ceramics are sure to educate and inspire. Original Price: $28.95 |
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In the 1970s, I began teaching a course on American ceramic history at the extension division of the University of California, Los Angeles. I sent a notice concerning this course to Ceramics Monthly. They quickly wrote to me (no email then) suggesting I write a series of articles on those early twentieth century ceramists who laid the foundation for American studio ceramics. The research for those articles, the first four in this handbook, taught me about the dedicated people who created a craft history. After those articles were published, the magazine suggested I continue to write about those others contributing engaging work in ceramics. This book is a compilation of those articles, a reflection on those responsible for shaping American ceramics over the years. As strange as it may seem today, with the great variety of available information on ceramics, thirty years ago there were very few magazines and books about American ceramics. Yes, technical information was available but very little about how the craft developed. Also, what was published had been written years earlier. Charles Binns, Arthur Baggs, and Adelaide Robineau, ceramists discussed in the first two articles, truly pioneered both the technical and the aesthetic in ceramics. Binns, at Alfred University (New York) and Baggs at the Ohio State University, initiated an academic approach to education—a concept quite apart from the European apprentice system for crafts. Robineau, the first woman to boldly pursue learning to throw on the potter’s wheel (generally discouraged by male throwers), helped transfer some potters from a reliance on factory throwers to establishing their own studios. Glen Lukens, Laura Andreson, Mary and Edwin Scheier, Maija Grotell, and Herbert Sanders continued the concept of educating ceramists in academia, in universities, and in art schools across the country. Grotell also represents the influx of European ceramists coming to America in the late 1930s and ‘40s, when the world was at war. Along with Grotell, who taught at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Otto and Gertrud Natzler, Marguerite Wildenhain in California, and Frans Wildenhain in New York, all reinforced a European aesthetic that proclaimed work in clay as a fine art. This group brought attention to the lifestyle of the studio potter (continuing and reinforcing Robineau’s direction) and to the beauty of well-crafted functional ware with exciting surface enrichments. Early on, Otto Natzler viewed the action of the kiln as a tool capable of creating many different results from a single glaze. Frans Wildenhain’s sculptural forms and commissioned murals brought a concern for nature and the environment into ceramics and to his students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. |
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Each of the mid-century American ceramists also contributed
something unique to the field. Andreson introduced using porcelain
clays and glazes; Sanders wrote about his experiments with a wide
variety of glazes and, especially, modifications within crystalline
glazes, providing technical information beyond the basics; the Scheiers
were influenced by Mexican and South American ceramics, suggesting a
greater world view; Lukens fearlessly saw the beauty in unglazed and
heavily grogged clay at a time when the over-all glazed surface was
ascendant. |
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In a very short time, the ceramists coming of age in the 1970s and ‘80s
understood they had been given permission to seek their personal
expressive direction in clay. Lukman Glasgow incorporated Surrealism,
humor, and social commentary in the juxtaposition of common yet,
seemingly, unrelated objects. Stephen DeStaebler’s stacked forms
combined the concepts of Abstract Expressionism with figurative
sculpture. Marilyn Levine turned to the realistic object as a
reflection of both Pop Art and Super Realism. Although not written
about in this collection, Robert Arneson’s interpretation of Pop Art
and the figure were enormously influential. Otto Natzler initially explored the kiln as an integral part of ceramic
expression. Later, Paul Soldner and Juan Quezada introduced variations
on low-fire technology. In two more articles, the kiln, once again, is
the subject. Fred Olsen traveled the world to learn about indigenous
kilns, returning to write a book on the subject that had a profound
influence on this technology and on his own landscape-inspired
sculptural ceramics. In workshops around the world, he continues to
build structures that connect to the local ambiance and environment,
yet still manage to expertly fire wares. John Roloff, opened the
concept of firing to an aesthetic beyond its connection to ware. For
Roloff, the kiln becomes the fired object in a ritual that recalls
primitive ceremonies worshiping fire and light. –Elaine M. Levin
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Contents
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