ceramics

A detailed Summary of ceramics

Richard Fairbanks, although many times overlooked, was an important American ceramist. He was known as a "loner" and because of this he was never really appreciated for his talent. Fairbanks was greatly influence by his professors. Professor Paul Bonifas, who taught at the University of Washington, was one who left a huge impact on Fairbanks work. Fairbanks created a system of sketching pottery profiles, which stemmed from Bonifas' teachings, as a mean of "thinking on paper." This approach to pottery through sketching was a crucial element that separated Fairbanks from many other Asian-inspired American peers. Although, Fairbanks was a wheel thrown expert, he continued to "think on paper" throughout his creative life.

Much of what absorbs Fairbanks interests can be seen in his making of candlesticks, casseroles, and vases. During the later part of his life he created three of his final pieces. One being the Stoneware Heart Plate, 1985, secondly the Stoneware server, 1985, and thirdly the Stoneware Vase, 1985. These were three of Fairbanks last works, which suggest the direction in which he was headed, in terms of what defined his style, before he became deathly ill.

Takeshi Yasuda is somewhat of a treasure. His main focus in pottery is engaged in pots as a focus of our daily activities and rituals. Pots are not just a visual object, but something to be cherished on many levels. Yasuda's objects are often marked as sensual and tactile, which reveal the fluidity of his ideas. Yasuda was a wheel thrower, who was "intrigued by formal complexities of wheel thrown pottery. Takeshi Yasuda does a wonderful job at involving and engaging the user.

The next piece he made during his period of illness was called the "Stoneware Server." The server can be explained by "unadorned simplicity." It also takes on some style of the art deco period. Fairbanks decided that for the server, he would decorate a new style of handles. The thrown thread-spool shape. Many people explained this server as a "model of modernist formal unity." The server is covered with red matte glaze. I became attracted to this piece because of its simplicity. It creates room for interpretation, which I find culminating.

In Yasuda's Platter one sees the movement that he tried to captivate in many of his works. This Platter is made from Creamware, which was an invention of 18th century Staffordshire. Creamware was what eventually replaced the popular thin glazed products. Yasuda gave a new name to creamware. He was impressed with its "optimistic and visually liberating appearance."

His most intriguing work, are his studies of the fluid nature of wheel thrown porcelain. Many of Yasuda's pots are about tension, tension between the upward and downward, this is what I find absolutely intriguing.

Instead of purist forms, Fairbanks explored the less traveled road of rough and crusty clay bodies, which emerge, from the surface of the glaze. This in turn removed his pieces from any realm of perfection. In the end Fairbanks demonstra

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Approximate Word count = 1255
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts