When I took my first course in ceramics under Roger Corsaw at the
University of Oklahoma over forty years ago, I was from the beginning attracted
to glazes and the almost endless possible variations on every idea. This
interest continued throughout my training, and I was fortunate to work professionally
with glazes for fifteen years and to continue that interest here at Glendale
College.
The first impression a pot gives often derives from the glaze. Facility
with glaze technology eliminates dependence on the the glaze work of others
and allows a knowledgeable approach to glaze possibilities. Successful glaze
development is a combination of technological skill and artistic sensibility.
It is a matter of knowing what cannot be done and how to do what can. The
glaze literature in English is vast and not always dependable. |
Here at Glendale College, we offer a full ceramics program: wheel
work, hand building, high and low firing, raku, and a course in glaze calculation
which emphasizes ceramic raw materials and various technical aspects of
clay and glaze as they relate to the artist potter.
My own work is both functional and sculptural, and I especially enjoy combining thrown and hand-built elements. In the area of glazing my particular interest lies in studying colorant reactions in glaze systems the members of which have been developed to show the effects of various dominant oxides in the base glaze. |
