View Larger Image Double-Walled Vessel #22, 11 in. (28 cm) in height, thrown and carved Babu porcelain, with celadon and clear glazes, fired to Cone 10 in reduction.

August 20, 2007

Inspired by Mathematics

by Peter Wang | Read Comments (3)

It seems like only yesterday that kids everywhere were singing, "School's out for summer..." while excitedly jumping off their school buses to start their long-awaited vacation from the classroom. But, and as almost any stay-at-home parent will confirm, it wasn't just yesterday. Summer vacation started a loooong two months ago, and it wasn't long before the choruses of "I'm bored" and "There's nothing to do" soon started up. So, it's with a sigh of relief that this week many of us will find ourselves with more time to spend in the studio amongst our clay and our tools after sending our little ones back to class with a well-versed reply, "Because reading, writing and arithmetic are important...THAT'S why you need to go to school." Of course since many of us are so anxious to get back into our studios, we might also emphasize to our little skeptics the fact that clay, while being fun to work with, is also important to their education—that creative thinking and problem solving can be taught with clay.

And so it is that Peter Wang's article, "Inspired by Mathematics," is particularly relevant and, well, inspirational, this week--especially when you consider that of the many subjects taught in school, math would seem to be the most irrelevant when it comes to artistic expression. But, as you will see in today's feature, there is indeed a place in the studio where the precision of math and the freedom of clay can harmoniously work together to create beautiful pieces of art. Also in part one of our "back to school" issue of Ceramic Arts Daily, you'll get some insight in the classroom from several teachers who are tasked with keeping their students motivated while passing on their appreciation for the world of ceramics. But first, Peter Wang shows you that there is a place for mathematics in the art studio.

Inspired by Mathematics
by Peter Wang

What a beautiful lampshade!...I'm amazed by how intricate your work is, but what do you use these for?...You could use it for fondue....It's so gorgeous, but what is it supposed to be?

If I had a nickel for each time somebody has made one of the above comments about my work, I could retire. When I explain that these intricately carved pots are my interpretation of the double-walled vessel, I am often greeted by smiles and nods of understanding that, to varying degrees of effectiveness, attempt to mask my audience’s persistent confusion. The questions keep coming: “Which end is up?” or, even more amusingly, “Did you throw that?”

Such questions remind me of my own beginnings in clay. My passion for ceramics began in childhood, when my parents enrolled me in a summer school ceramics course at my local community college. Almost immediately I was fascinated by the processes (and challenges) involved in transforming an amorphous lump of dirt into something hard and durable. I was too young to make pots with any degree of skill, but the seed of inspiration had been planted.

Years later, while struggling to finish my studies in mathematics at Caltech, I fondly recalled these early memories and decided to take ceramics as an elective. Again I found myself enthralled by the apparent ease with which the instructor threw pots on the wheel, yet frustrated that I still lacked the muscle coordination to throw a pot.

Nevertheless, I was undeterred—I was addicted to clay, but could barely throw. After my graduation from Caltech, I registered at Pasadena City College (PCC), where, under the instruction of Philip Cornelius and numerous other gifted instructors and students, I finally learned how to throw.

One day at the PCC studio, I came across a bowl by Neil Moss, who had been previously invited to work at PCC as a visiting artist. The piece was a double-walled vessel, which had been clearly thrown upside down as a single form. I began to contemplate the technical requirements necessary to throw such a form. Although Moss had left the outer wall of his bowl intact, I recognized that piercing through the outside would emphasize the double-walled nature of the pot. These insights were the starting point for my current work, which has evolved over the past five years into its present incarnation.

Inspiration is omnipresent—all that needs to be done is recognize its existence. Ceramics is but one passion in my life, and a relatively recent one at that. As long as I can remember, I have loved mathematics. There is, in math, an undeniable beauty of precision of thought that extends beyond mere computation. One might speculate that it was my fascination with geometry and its exploration of symmetry that served as the foundation for my interest in ceramics and the wheel. The concrete, tactile language of clay finds a counterpoint in the idealized, abstract language of mathematics, and I take great joy in exploring ways to mix them together.

Certainly, mine is not a wholly original endeavor. I have been asked whether my work draws upon historical references—for instance, whether the carved double-wall technique is a nod to my cultural ancestors, the Chinese, or if the geometric tilings are borrowed from Islamic mosaics. While historical precedents to my work do exist, I feel these ties are mainly due to the diverse aesthetic heritage of the ceramic medium, rather than from any conscious desire to evoke the past. Indeed, one can hardly avoid creating art that resembles prior works.

Find out Wednesday how Peter reconciles the precision of math and the freedom of clay to create double-walled vessels while striving to achieve a harmonious balance between these opposing forces. But now, we turn to some teachers who have a thing or two to say about teaching, the state of our education system, and what they're doing to encourage their art students in the classroom.

Voices from the Classroom: How Teachers Keep Ceramics in School

From Sean Burns, Teacher
I am fortunate in that I am able to operate at a fairly high level with my students, as I do both advanced 2D work and advanced ceramics classes. The changes I am seeing in the classroom revolve around the changing nature of public schools in our society. In my school we are experiencing a shift in focus toward teaching to the [standardized] test because to secure federal funding there is simply no alternative. This year science joins English and math as mandatory subjects for testing with history soon to follow...That is a lot of testing!

In art we can bolster some of those areas but we do not want to dilute our essential mission: Creative problem solving using various media as our vehicle of instruction! We will probably never see a stadardized test in art, but we all know in most areas that portfolio assessment is really the best way to judge long term achievement. Another major change is also the ongoing trends in technology--computers and web sites. A lot of possibilities open up, including distance learning and exchange of ideas.

As for what I do to keep the ceramics and arts program strong...I continue to learn and bring new ideas and techniques to the program. Lately my thing has been Japan and China. I have also participated in professional development that has found its way into the classroom--projects revolving around tea ceremony and blue and white porcelain.

I keep getting better at the medium. I didn't know anything but handbuilding when I began teaching 13 years ago, and much less about how to fix a kiln or a wheel or mix glazes. But I had a good ceramics mentor and dove in when I started, and when the reins were passed on to me to run the program I had a basis to work from.

---

From Chris Trabka, Former Teacher
I believe the arts have two important roles in education. First, it is a subject where the student can succeed. There are many students that become discouraged with school because they do not see any "value" in the subject matter. My belief is that they do not get positive feedback from the class. Not that the teacher does not try to help and encourage them, but with successive near failing grades would you want to continue? In art, a student can witness their own growth and improvement.

Second, art class allows students to express themselves non-verbally. The ability to make a statement about your self is what the students are trying to do with their dress and attitude. To write a succinct statement about your feelings on a subject is a very difficult task; there are many rules that must be followed.

---

From June Davis, Parent and Former Teacher
From a personal standpoint, my 9-year-old has taken clay classes at the local rec center, only to have the teacher express her concern to me later that my son seemed to be more enchanted watching the clay oozing out like spaghetti from the hand extruder than wanting to sit down and create something. When I walked into the classroom, he was so excited and thrilled to show me what he was doing; I just couldn’t understand why a teacher would want to stifle such excitement. As an ex-teacher, I was always thrilled to see that glimmer in my students’ eyes…ahhhh, they got it--they’re excited about what I’m showing them. I am always thankful for the art teacher (or any teacher!) who can appreciate the little victories students can achieve in the classroom, whether it's making a pinch pot or making spaghetti with an extruder.