Clayton Bailey on mon 20 may 96
I am looking for information about internal combustion ceramics. I
understand equal parts of clay and manure are mixed together and formed.
Wwhen the piece dries it is ignited with a match. The burning manure fires
the clay from the inside out, eliminating the need for fuel and kiln. Do
any of you have experience with this technique?
Dan Wilson on mon 20 may 96
Yea. I've been doing this type of process for many years now and have yet
to perfect it.I began in 1978 with "Cow Piles" (since I live in Dairy
Country) and "Steaming Heaps". Both resulting in unfortunate confrontations
with neighbors and co-workers. Although the technical advantages were
obvious, and the results were unusual, the process itself caused great
consternation among interested members of the community. In retrospect, it
seems that the proportion of manure to claybody was incorrect. The process
left very little in the way of "tangible functioning objects". After years
of experimentation though I can say without qualification that the process
does have merit. When the porportions are correct i.e. Manure to Clay body,
and the context is appropriate.
Louis Howard Katz on tue 21 may 96
In Thailand grog is made by igniting a mixture of rice hulls and clay.
Mostly rice hulls. The grog is easily pulverized. The cannonball size
lumps made with a hole through them like a bead are easily crushed under
your foot. Since rice hulls burn with very little soluble salts, they are
almost pure silica, the clay doesn't get goofed up from deflocculants
present in other kinds of ash.
Louis
***************************************************
*Louis Katz lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu *
*Texas A&M University Corpus Christi *
*6300 Ocean Drive, Art Department *
*Corpus Christi, Tx 78412 *
*Phone (512) 994-5987 *
**************************************************
Dan Wilson on wed 22 may 96
I was nosing around in D. Rhodes' Clay and Glazes for the Potter and found
a photgraph of an example of Clayton Bailey's work. On the basis of this
information, it would appear that humor plays a significant role in his
approach to clay. (What about it Mr. Bailey?) His question about 'Internal
Combustion Ceramics' whether meant to be humorous or not does bring up
important questions? What role has humor played in the historical
development of Ceramics? Are there other examples?. Are there contemporary
potters developing this theme? Is it hard to take them seriously? Has the
medium become the message or is it a vehicle; used for the expression of
ideas?
Valice Raffi on thu 23 may 96
i had the good fortune to watch (& inadvertantly participate) in a
wonderful and very funny demonstration by Clayton Bailey. He created a
number of vessels with faces, which were then raku'd (at night). The
vessels were then plunged into a water trough where they burbled and spit
out of a variety of orifices! Many of them spit out into the second row of
spectators!
A good time was had by all!
Valice
Clayton Bailey on thu 23 may 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>(What about it Mr. Bailey?) His question about 'Internal
>Combustion Ceramics' whether meant to be humorous or not does bring up
>important questions? What role has humor played in the historical
>development of Ceramics? Are there other examples?. Are there contemporary
>potters developing this theme? Is it hard to take them seriously? Has the
>medium become the message or is it a vehicle; used for the expression of
>ideas?
I do believe that humor is something to take seriously. "A little dose of
humor now and then in the form of snake oil is good for the wits." - Dr.
Gladstone
Suzanne Wolfe on thu 23 may 96
Dan Wilson wrote --
> What role has humor played in the historical
> development of Ceramics? Are there other examples?. Are there contemporary
> potters developing this theme? Is it hard to take them seriously? Has the
> medium become the message or is it a vehicle; used for the expression of
> ideas?
>
I don't think that humor ever played a role in ceramics in the same way
as with the Funk movement, much of which was based on "gross" as opposed
to "subtle" humor, and of course, Bailey is an integral part of that
movement.
However, there are certainly examples from ceramics history where humor
played an important role, but in a different guise. The piece that
instantly comes to mind is the "Aesthetic Teapot" made by Minton in the
late 19th century, which parodied Oscar Wilde, who was a great exponent
of the aesthetic movement. It made reference to his homosexuality, as
well as to his statement that he "found it ever more difficult to live up
to his blue china."
Perhaps there are many more examples of works that use parody or irony or
whatever form of humor (it would be important here to distinguish between
all the types of humor, something which I do not know enough about to do).
In another vein, I think that with ceramics the medium is often the
message, and that has been one of its great virtues and its great downfalls.
Suzanne Wolfe
swolfe@hawaii.edu
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