Posts Tagged ‘artistic inspiration’

Occasionally we like to talk about the other side of the commerical ceramics business of Robert Gordon Australia. While we are known in the business world as a designer, manufacturer and retailer of fine ceramics, and supplier to some of the world’s better restaurants of quality china products, we like sometimes to remember that, at heart, we are potters.

The main aim of this list is to provide a useful resource for anyone active in the pottery world. But its secondary aim is to keep us in touch with our past, with the artistic instincts born in the grassroots pottery community.

This list has been some time in the making — a lot longer than we expected when we conceived of the project. The reason for that is principally the response we have had from potters, a response which proves that there is a vibrant and generous potting community out there.

We would like to offer sincere thanks to the following for their contributions to the list:

Des and Jan Howard
Graeme Anderson
Ellen Appleby
Kirk Winter
Ian Hodgson
Michael Keighery
Ryland family
Gary Odgers

And, especially, Julie Vaux, whose bookswellread blog gave us the idea for this list in the first place.

POTTERY GUIDES

Robin Hopper
Functional Pottery
Subtitled: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose

Published 1986 by Chilton Book Co.

Description at alibris.com: “Through a wide display of functional pottery, this reference book offers information and practical tips as well as international coverage of both the design and aesthetics of ceramics and artists’ work.”

Recomended by Australian potter Julie Vaux. Part of her review of the book here http://www.bookswellread.net/functional-pottery/ says: “This is an essential reference book for teachers and students. Every school or arts centre that teaches ceramics should have a copy of this work. t covers the practical mechanics of applying geometry to proportions to get a balance functional item of ceramics. There is an excellent selection of historical examples and the practical forms covered range from handles to casseroles.”

Find it here.

Mel Jacobsen
Pottery: A Life – A Lifetime

Published in 2004 by American Ceramic Society.

Recommended by Australian potter Graeme Anderson.

Review (anonymous) at betterworldbooks.com: “Mel Jacobson’s book is a real pleasure to read. His experiences as an apprentice potter in Japan are delightful not only for the pottery experience but also for sharing his experience living in a different culture. There are plenty of technical pearls all through the book making it helpful to any potter seeking progress in their craft. In a way the book reads like a long chat with a great and inspiring teacher. I hope he writes a new one!”

Find it here.

Mimi Obstler and Robina Simpson
Out of the Earth, Into the Fire: A course in ceramic materials for the
studio potter

Published 1996 by the American Ceramic Society.

From a review by Australian potter Ian Hodgson: “If you are interested in where glazes come from and why they do what they do, then I certainly recommend you look at this book. I wish I had had copy 10 years ago.”

Find the 2001 edition here.

Daniel Rhodes
Clay and Glazes for the Potter

First published in 1973 by Pitman Publishing. Revised and expanded edition (paperback, 352 pages) published in 2000 by Krause Publications.

Recommended by Australian potter Gary Odgers who is ceramic designer/mould maker at Robert Gordon Australia, and who says: “This is a reference book. It’s not an exciting read, but has lots of useful and good information.”

Find it here.

Robert Tichane
Celadon Blues

Published 1998 by Krause Publications.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Description at alibris.com: “The definitive reference for potters of all skill levels who want to duplicate celadon glazes, one of the oldest and most beautiful high-fire reduction glazes, this guide carefully dissects Chinese glazes and reconstructs them with modern materials. The author offers explanations of the results and techniques.”

Find it here.

Robert Tichane
Copper Red Glazes

Published 1998 by Krause Publications.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Description at alibris.com: “A reference guide for potters who want success with copper-red glazes without doing extensive and frustrating experimentation. Robert Tichane’s approach provides a clear account of the processes involved in the production of copper-red glazes that has a relevance for potters beyond copper red.”

Find it here

John Britt
The Complete Guide to High-Fire Glazes
Subtitle: Glazing & Firing at Cone 10

Published 2007 by Lark Books.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

From the description at alibris.com: “With hundreds of recipes for some of the most popular and enduring high-fire glazes, this reference will prove a boon to ceramists who want to master this complex and versatile aspect of the art.”

Find it here.

Michael Bailey
Oriental Glazes

Published 2004 by University of Pennsylvania Press.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

From the description at betterworldbooks.com: “Oriental Glazes offers a complete overview of the art of high fire reduction glazing, which can be notoriously difficult to master. Michael Bailey has provided in-depth research to bring a wide variety of Oriental glazes to the reader with explanations, notes, and direction where needed. He discusses recipes, chemical make-up, and troubleshooting, and examines current artists’ use of these unique glazes. A wide variety of techniques and glazes are presented, from celadons and tekmokus to the more specialized tea dust and hare’s fur.:

Find it here.

Nigel Wood
Chinese Glazes
Subtitle: Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation

Published 1999 by A&C Black.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

From the description at alibris.com: “Chinese ceramics and their glazes have delighted and enthralled the world for centuries. In this book, Nigel Wood traces the development of Chinese glazes from the Bronze Age to the present day. He carefully describes how Chinese glazes were made, and how they evolved over some 3000 years of continuous production.”

Find it here.

Steve Harrison
Rock Glazes: Geology and Mineral Processing For Potters

Published 2005 by Hot & Sticky Press

Includes a CD.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Find it here.

Greg Daly
Glazes and Glazing Techniques

Published 1995 by A & C Black Publishers Ltd

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Description at betterworldbooks.com: “The author takes a straightforward, empirical approach to the subject of glazes. He shows the reader how to develop glaze recipes by the trial and error” method. He also helps the reader to understand the function of the materials in the glaze, how they affect the colouring oxides, and how variations in application and firing can alter the final outcome. The process sequences and finished works are illustrated in the text. The aim of the book is to provide a simple guide to the subject which will educate as well as inspire.”

Find it here.

Ian Currie
Stoneware glazes: a systematic approach

Published 1986 (2nd Edition) by Bootstrap Press.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Find it here

Ian Currie
Revealing Glazes: Using the Grid Method

Published 2000 by Bootstrap Press.

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Find it here.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

Leonard Koren
Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
Published in 1994 by Stone Bridge Press

Recommended by Australian potter Kirk Winter, who says the book looks at the ways we see and perceive things.

From the book’s introduction: “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.”

Find it here

Soetsu Yanagi
Unknown Craftsman
Subtitled: A Japanese Insight Into Beauty

Published in 1972 by Kodansha International Ltd (Tokyo)

Recommended by Australian potter Kirk Winter, who says: “A way of looking at handcrafts.”

Find it here

HISTORY

Janet Gleeson
The Arcanum

Published 1998 by Bantam.

Description: The invention of European porcelain.

Recommended by Australian potter Michael Keighery, who says: “Skullduggery involved even makes the NSW ALP look good.”

Comment by an amazon.com reviewer: “Janet Gleeeson takes us on an intricate and spellbinding tour of 18th century Saxony as she breathtakingly relates the history of porcelain through three of its major players. The story of the aracanum produces a history lesson and detective novel in one as court misdemeanors and everyday life are revealed in all their glory. Everything is revealed from sexually transmitted diseases to the swapping of a vase for a dragoon of soldiers.”

Find it here.

Anthony Burton
Josiah Wedgwood: A Biography

Published 1976 by Andre Deustch.

Recommended by Australian potter Michael Keighery, who says: “The story of the genius, scientist, scholar and industrialist who revolutionised ceramic production.”

Find it here.

Dorothy Johnston
The People’s Potteries: Stories of the Art Potteries of Sydney

More People’s Potteries Stories

Self-published (?), 2002
Description: Pottery history, New South Wales, Australia

Recommended by Australian potter Anna Ryland.

Find both books here or write to: Dorothy Johnson, PO Box 175, Cooranbong NSW 2265, Australia

Michael Cardew
Pioneer Pottery

Published 1971 by St. Martin’s Press (New York).

From the description at alibris.com: When he went to West Africa in the 1940s, Michael Cardew found himself ‘in a land where the potter’s art had been flourishing for centuries without the use of wheels, or kilns, or glazes’. This book grew out of his desire to share all that he had learned from the African pioneers of pottery.”

Recomended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Find it here.

THE BUSINESS OF ART

Peter Timms
What’s Wrong with Contemporary Art?
Published 2005 by University of New South Wales Press.

Recommended by Australian potter Kirk Winter.

From the description at alibris.com: “In this provocative book, Peter Timms asks confronting questions. Why is contemporary art so in thrall to spruikers and promoters, and why do their extravagant claims so rarely match the reality? Why does the market have such power, and how does it dictate the sort of art we are allowed to see? Why are art schools, museums and the media apparently so eager to fall in line with commercial expectations?”

Find it here.

Harry Davis
The Potter’s Alternative

Published 1987 by Methuen Australia

Recommended by Australian potters Des and Jan Howard.

Description at alibris.com: “Divided into 2 parts: Part 1 is aimed at potters who would like to be independent of supply companies by first finding, then processing their own raw materials using pug mills, blungers and ball mills. Part 2 teaches both potters and others the ‘how to’ of tool and machine making, much of it by hand.”

Find it here.