Customer Reviews

The Penland Book of Ceramics: Masterclasses in Ceramic Techniques

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is great to learn special techniques from Masters in Clay. One does need significant background in clay such as throwing techniques, slab making, coil building etc. These are not discussed in detail, but great pieces of work have been demonstrated in extreme detail assuming basic knowledge.

The title of the book leads one to expect to receive the technical information needed to try any of the techniques demonstrated. The book does not always live up to this promise. For example, the multilayered slip technique presented by Mary Barringer demonstrates the use of slips before and after bisquing. The most critical factor here would be the composition of the slip to accommodate the shrinkage of the bisque. Granted, there are many slip recipes out there, but not all will work here. I don't need to see pictures of her brushing the slip on. That is the stuff of beginner books (if even) not "Master classes". The physical techniqes of building , modelling and shaping are well illustrated, and so the book does have its value. Michael Sherril's use of extruded clay to make his fantastic sculptures was eyeopening, and well demonstrated.

The pictures were great, also I liked the instructional part. The example of how to tell if the glaze is deflocuulated by putting your hands in and watch how it flows was so visual, I have used it every time I defluculated a glaze.
It also shwed a different way to have your way with the clay, like those things that look like bananaas, how do you do that with clay, the book explained it in enough detail for your to copy,in your own style. I am very pleased with this book.

I really enjoy this book. I say that in the present tense because this is not a book you sit and read cover to cover. You select parts as selecting a piece of chocolate from a box of candy, read it, savor it, and save the rest for later. It offers wonderful artist profiles and then these featured artists offer a gallery of their favorite artists' works. It is biographical, inspirational, and instructional at an advanced level.

THE PENLAND BOOK OF CERAMICS is certainly large and colorful. The Penland School of Crafts, located in the mountains of North Carolina, seems large enough to be considered a community. "Today the school encompasses 43 buildings located on 400 acres of land. Each year approximately 1,200 people come to Penland for instruction and another 12,000 pass through as visitors." (p. 205). I expected to find more pictures in the book of the interesting three-dimensional conglomeration on the cover, which is probably not a bunch of bananas, but maybe the artist thought it was. The colors are similar to the "Yellowstone Rhododendron, 2001" and "Mountain Magnolia, 2001" shown on page 53. Even if it is supposed to be a bunch of bananas, that would not make it the most surreal thing in this book.

I have had difficulty thinking about objects that appear to be weird in three dimensions, so the complexity of many of the pieces seems miraculous to me, but the step-by-step explanations of the process of constructing a few items demonstrate the possibilities of getting there bit by bit. The first artist featured in the book, Clara "Kitty" Couch, produces terra cotta vessels that open out at the top with an edge so thin, looking so flimsy, that the first picture in the hands on series, "Rolling out the slab" (p. 17), showing the clay under a rolling pin, ought to produce an immense leap in the understanding of how the material is originally flattened before it is formed. There are also pictures of Joe Bova "Rolling out a 12-pound (5.4 kg) slab to a thickness of at least 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) on a piece of plywood" (p. 152) and Mary Barringer "applying texture with a tectured roller" (p.198). A description of Kitty Couch's work is called "Contemplative Coilings" (p. 12), but she does not try to make it all from one long rope. She describes adding flat coils, one at a time, "When the base has become firm so that it can support itself." (p. 13). More complicated layers of clay were used to produce Becky Gray's "Autumn Leaf Bowl" shown on page 24.

The works which I found most imaginative were by Sergei Isupov on pages 168 to 185. By painting faces at odd places, such as under the armpits of a figure called "To Cast a Spell" (pp. 168, 176 - 185 and back cover), the spooky line of Rilke's poem, "Archaic Torso of Apollo," `there is no spot that does not see you' (Translated by Walter Kaufmann in 20 German Poets, pp. 220-223) seems aptly illustrated.

There are some specialized techniques and equipment in this book that I will not try to describe. Some combinations are so much like architecture that it is not surprising to see a box that actually looks like a building, Angelica Pozo's "White Oak Temple Box, 1997. 17 3/4 x 10 3/4 x 16 inches (46.6 x 27.3 x 40.6 cm). Cut, carved, extruded, press-molded, and hand-formed mosaic tile from terra cotta; terra sigillata; glaze cone 04; glass mosaic. Photo by artist." (p. 27).

I very much am in awe of the artist who show their work in the Penland Book. It is so detailed and the pictures are so clear that you have the feeling that the art work is in front of you. All in all it is a great book and anyone purchasing it will enjoy and prize it as much as I do.

I especially enjoyed the work of Sergei Isupov and Michael Sherrill, but none of the other artists were less than spectacular including the gallery of complementary work. I'm especially appreciative of the artists for sharing their inovative techniques with us. Thanks to the Penland School, also, for bringing their art to our attention.