clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Hello everyone! My name is Mel and I am a wheel-lover and teach Ceramics at a HS in FL. I am seeking to create a weekly potters talk in my Ceramics 2 and 3 classes at the high school where I teach.(cer. 1 does basic art history each week) I am looking to make a top 20 list of important potters/ceramic artists. Can you all help me by answering this-WHO WOULD YOU WANT FUTURE CLAY ARTISTS AND POTTERS TO KNOW ABOUT? No bounds except I am trying to avoid super contemporary potters (I don't ignore this in class just not part of this idea) (Once I compile a list and make some image ppts. would be glad to share if interested:) On your mark..... get set...... Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JBaymore Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Probably the "BEST" potters......... none of us have ever heard about by name. But their work was great, and was important in their time and some of that is likely sitting in museum cases all over the world. Not a lot of time right now... and don't know how "contemporary" you really mean by "not contemporary"........but a few immediately come to mind: Paulus Berenson Lucy Rie Hans Coper Bernard Leach Hamada Shoji Peter Volkous Rudy Autio Paul Soldner Robert Arneson best, ....................john PS: I could list a lot more Japanese names......but likely not your focus. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Thanks for the list John! That is a great start. This is a big deficit for me and I am determined to round out my art history for my students. Most of them have not had art since having it every 7 days in elementary school, so Ceramics one does a basic art history talk. I could cry at how small the exposure has been for most of them until high school. This is my next step. As for how contemp. is contemp. and westerns vs. eastern... I was thinking contemporary as currently creating and showing or selling (I have a research project for this). As for location of artist...all names welcome! I may organize the talks by culture depending on who I choose. So excited to get started on this! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Campbell 1,223 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 There probably is no one potter by name here ... But I think the story of the European quest for a porcelain clay body would be very interesting for this age group. It has everything from weird alchemists, kidnapping and holding prisoner of them by kings, hostage takings, recipe stealing and accidental burning down of wood and stone buildings where they were trying to fire hot kilns. Most kids would never suspect that a pottery tale could be so adventure filled. 2 clayfeetpottery and Rebekah Krieger reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 That sounds fabulous Chris! I will add that to the list. Thank you sounds like a Tolkein book Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JBaymore Report post Posted August 1, 2014 There probably is no one potter by name here ... But I think the story of the European quest for a porcelain clay body would be very interesting for this age group. It has everything from weird alchemists, kidnapping and holding prisoner of them by kings, hostage takings, recipe stealing and accidental burning down of wood and stone buildings where they were trying to fire hot kilns. Most kids would never suspect that a pottery tale could be so adventure filled. The historical fiction book about this is called "The Arcanum" and is availabe at Steven Branfman's "The Potters Shop Bookstore". http://thepottersshop.com/ Go to the bookstore section. I think it is high school level reading. The secret of porcelain got to Japan by the samurai under Warlord Hideoshi invading Korea (on his way to try to conquer China) and capturing entire villages of Korean potters and bringing them back to Japan to make pots for the various Daimyo (Feudal Lords). When good kaolin and ptunse was dicovered in Japan...... the Koreans knew what to do with it. best, .......................john Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Miller 433 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 The Little Masters of Athens. 1 clayfeetpottery reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen 320 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 John Mason might make some peoples list of top 20. 1 Colby Charpentier reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JBaymore Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Oh crap... missed Michael Cardew above in that first list. (corrected spelling 8/3 thanks babs ) best, .................john Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marcia Selsor 1,701 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Chris, that book about the search for porcelain in Europe is calle The Arcanum. Great read. If you look at the first ceramics show at the Whitney Museum in NYC Six Sculptors you have Peter Voulkos, John Mason, Kenneth Price, Robert Arneson, David Gilhooly and Richard Shaw, In Ceramics History in the US Mary Chase Perry Stratton Founder of Pewabic Pottery Mary Louise maclaughlin's work at Rookwood Pottery Adelaide Robineau (the Thousand Hour Vase) and Taxile Doat at the Women's University in St. Louis. She initiated the Syracuse Ceramics National in 1929 and founded Keramos magazine She invited Taxile Doat to come to the US from the Sevres Porcelain factory in Paris. Margarite Wildenhein Maija Grotell , teacher at Cranbrook and former Bauhaus artist Patty Warashina Robert Sperry Stephen DeStabler Charles Binns (Father of Alfred University Ceramics) Ted Randall Tashiko Takeaezu Byron Temple Maria and Julio Martinez Potter Dave , the slave potter who captured souls in the face jugs George Ohr, the Mad Potter of Biloxi Bernard Palissy, French Josiah Wedgewood A good reference book might be 100 years of American Ceramics by Garth Clark or the collection at the ASU research center in Tempe, Az. 1 clayfeetpottery reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 Thank you Marcia! List is getting fabulously big Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Callie Beller Diesel 1,406 Report post Posted August 1, 2014 I think the early days of the Bauhaus school deserves a looking at. It influenced how a lot of art programs are instructed on a college level today and it was part of the whole "is clay art, craft or design" discourse. Also interesting for artists such as Eva Zeisel escaping the Nazis to America, and becoming a design icon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colby Charpentier 61 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 John Mason might make some peoples list of top 20. And his contemporaries... Good suggestion! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marcia Selsor 1,701 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 oops! Ruth Duckworth Franz Wildenhein- Bauhaus and School of the American Craftsmen , Rochester, NY Otto and Vivika Heino Beatrice Wood, and the Natzlers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 oh boy...so despite my attempt at checking for typos in the initial post a biggie slipped by. The post title was supposed to read FROM history not "form history". Thanks for the catch- oldlady It has been fixed. So, as I have been researching the names given so far I realize I have to choose between ancient ceramic history and perhaps the past 100 years or so. I can see most of the names given focus on the latter and so shall I. Thank you to all who have sent a name...now to narrow the 40 to 20! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JBaymore Report post Posted August 2, 2014 The "recent history" aspect was a bit what I was aluding to in my initial comment. The older you go in the history... the less the names of potters are recorded .................except particularly in Japan (highly valued art form) , and a bit in Korea, and China. If you go back in time... you might refer to types/locations of ware production... not specific artists. Your BIG issuse is going to be narrowing it down to the "Top 20". best, ....................john Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 John...I now get what you were talking about earlier. I am trying to consider impact and the type of lifestory and artwork to most interest my teenage audience. I am really excited to see women will be a significant part of this list. I may have to go to 25.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Coyle 113 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 Val Cushing, John Hesselberth and Ron Roy Have made a big impact on ceramics in that a good portion of the glazes used out there are derived directly from formulas derived and tested by these people. There is a lot more to ceramics than just making pots. I think the kids need to know about these people also. 1 Stellaria reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clayfeetpottery 5 Report post Posted August 2, 2014 Thank you Geezer (these names hehe)! I had thought of Val Cushing but the other 2 have been added to the list. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Babs 731 Report post Posted August 4, 2014 HOpe you don't enter the Art v Craft side of life!! Good luck with your weeding! Maybe you could give them a big list to select one from individually to research, and then bring together the results fot everyone to share. Correcting a typo John, in case this potter is not known by the original poster, Michael Cardew. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JBaymore Report post Posted August 4, 2014 Fixed babs. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marcia Selsor 1,701 Report post Posted August 4, 2014 John...I now get what you were talking about earlier. I am trying to consider impact and the type of lifestory and artwork to most interest my teenage audience. I am really excited to see women will be a significant part of this list. I may have to go to 25.... The Arts and Crafts Movement had women decorators. Some became quite famous. The saturday Night Girls in Boston painted tiles. Newcomb Pottery in New Orleans has a traveling show on right now. Great design work. Marcia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wyndham 98 Report post Posted August 6, 2014 Early American potters, Goodwin & Websters, the bird & fish potters, named that for the cobalt decoration on crocks and jugs,NC. I used them as an example of the potters that made this country's utility stoneware and help develop this nations growth. The folk potters of the south, the Hewell's of Georgia, 150 yrs of family pottery, The Catawba valley potters, generations of family potters The potters, unnamed that developed ash glazes for whiskey jugs from clay and ash, as good as Asian counterparts century's earlier. Isaac Button, who dug the clay to make the kiln, then dug & processed the clay to turn a ton a day.. Harding Black of San Antonio Tx, that spent a life time rediscovering great reduction glazes. Just a different POV about the giants in clay, those who we stand on their shoulders. Wyndham Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neilestrick 2,796 Report post Posted August 6, 2014 David Shaner Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rebekah Krieger 176 Report post Posted August 6, 2014 I am going to pick up that book- thanks for the suggestion Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
