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BH Claysmith
When our ancestors descended from the trees millions of years ago and took an upright position, their hands were free for new uses such as making artifacts, instruments and drawing on cave walls. Our individual biological nature or ‘who we are’ is who we were; we carry the genes of everyone who came before us and with that, a need to create. As both an educator & artist, I am intent on protecting, nurturing and celebrating the creative spirit and insuring it will never become obsolete.
CLAY Beads and Rattles...
CLAY BEADS have always been made in abundance. They were first painted in patterns similar to those used on pots or bowls. Making beads in clay is a skill which is easy to perfect; the clay material presents a design opportunity limited only by the imagination and expertise of the maker. The RATTLE is used in many cultures to celebrate individual beginnings; beginnings which connect us profoundly to ourselves. Rattles help us to ground. Their sound is magical & powerful and they are a treasure to behold when adorned with handmade clay beads, semi-precious stones or found objects. Terracotta beads, rattles and animal whistles dating back 6,000 years or so have been found in numerous ancient civilizations. The ease with which clay could be rolled, pinched, pierced and cut allowed these cultures to advance musically at a time when Europe was playing with simple flutes. Because of my explorations into clay rattles, whistles and beads, my classes & playshops have evolved from the functional to the fanciful, offering additional insights into clayful delights, what-ifs and learning to see. As a self proclaimed claysmith and maieutic, I act as a midwife in the birthing of all things CLAY - pots, beads, whistles and rattles - which speak not only of the maker but the user and the society where the art of clay is permitted to flourish.
MY CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY
All of my clay work is hand-built and one-of-a-kind.
Some pots do bear a family resemblance
but each remains unique unto itself.
Using my own pinch-strip or slab method of construction, I build up the side walls to capture the space within. As the piece begins to breathe on its own and a personality emerges, I yield to the nature of the clay.
No longer am I in control of where I go or what lead I follow, or even what occurs when I get there.
THE CLAY SPEAKS TO ME.
It tells me what it wants to be when it grows up
and I listen. We transform each other -
my clay work becomes my vision;
I become my clay work.
My entire being, not just my hands, is an integral part of the process.
What emerges just HAPPENS –
from the visual appeal
to the featherweight feel of each piece.
My creative philosophy is a contradictory mix of Nike's "Just do it!" and the Beatle's "Let it be," both practiced in the spirit of author Tom Robbins who writes, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
CLAY - I LOVE WHERE IT TAKES ME !
Some pots do bear a family resemblance
but each remains unique unto itself.
Using my own pinch-strip or slab method of construction, I build up the side walls to capture the space within. As the piece begins to breathe on its own and a personality emerges, I yield to the nature of the clay.
No longer am I in control of where I go or what lead I follow, or even what occurs when I get there.
THE CLAY SPEAKS TO ME.
It tells me what it wants to be when it grows up
and I listen. We transform each other -
my clay work becomes my vision;
I become my clay work.
My entire being, not just my hands, is an integral part of the process.
What emerges just HAPPENS –
from the visual appeal
to the featherweight feel of each piece.
My creative philosophy is a contradictory mix of Nike's "Just do it!" and the Beatle's "Let it be," both practiced in the spirit of author Tom Robbins who writes, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
CLAY - I LOVE WHERE IT TAKES ME !
Followers
Egyptian Bowl
Best in Show BORDERS AND EDGES 2010
My POTS...
Most potters working in stoneware produce cups, bowls, pitchers or vases with a certain similarity. Some mimic classic shapes while others masterfully produce stylized forms. A few make sculptural interpretations of functional pieces assembled in a style uniquely their own. I am one such person. My pots, constructed from slabs or using a pinch-strip method I developed, bear the look of burnished metal, tooled leather or whimsical china. My techniques makes building featherweight forms of many shapes and sizes a possibility. In addition, I address how what I am going to make will look before asking the question, what's it going to be - an approach quite out of the norm for most potters. My reasoning is quite simple - "Fashion designers don't envision clothing designs in drab muslin - they employ rich silk textures, tartans and tapestries when fashioning their creations. Why not do the same as a hand builder of clay? Why not let colorfully created engobe plaids or knobby textured clay surfaces have a say in what I end up making?" My signature pieces evolve from the stoneware 'fabrics' I create out of thinly rolled slabs enhanced with patterns, texture and color. It is my unorthodox methodologies coupled with classic hand building techniques - pinching, coiling, extruding - that attract students to my classes. Students who are seldom disappointed with the way their pots look when they retrieve them from the glaze firing, because the way they will end up looking is addressed from their inception!
CLAY is my PASSION!
My ongoing exploration into engobes & terra sigillatas has helped me discover new ways to generate colorful patterns, textures and finishes on all sorts of clay bodies. Whether shaping simple clay beads or fine tuning a transfer-to-surface process, I enthusiastically explore ALL my clay options, asking myself ‘what if’ every time I’m confronted with clay and its possibilities. But once techniques are mastered it is time to really listen…
First I wanted to build with clay, eat off its river rock surface and drink from the empty spaces it defines. I then wanted to hear the sound of clay as it moves to and fro within itself or as it tries to be its own call in the wild - so I make rattles which memorialize beginnings & whistles which speak without words. Now I want a total “Clay Shibumi” where I am the adaptable turtle or the Bodhi leaf impressed in the clay’s surface; where I know the power of each single hand-formed bead touching my skin. I want to be what the clay is saying as I wear it and fondle it (the way old Greek men stroke their worry beads). So I strive to compose the language of clay and I eagerly impart (to anyone interested) the intriguing ways of clay beads. Whether knotted together in strands or left as single symbols of contemporary artifacts for carrying in pockets, these miniature manifestations personify peace, harmony and partnership in a time when dominance & strife seems the norm. Beads worn or handled absorb our very essence becoming an extension of who we are and what we wish to become.
CLAY is my voice in this wilderness and I love where it takes me!
First I wanted to build with clay, eat off its river rock surface and drink from the empty spaces it defines. I then wanted to hear the sound of clay as it moves to and fro within itself or as it tries to be its own call in the wild - so I make rattles which memorialize beginnings & whistles which speak without words. Now I want a total “Clay Shibumi” where I am the adaptable turtle or the Bodhi leaf impressed in the clay’s surface; where I know the power of each single hand-formed bead touching my skin. I want to be what the clay is saying as I wear it and fondle it (the way old Greek men stroke their worry beads). So I strive to compose the language of clay and I eagerly impart (to anyone interested) the intriguing ways of clay beads. Whether knotted together in strands or left as single symbols of contemporary artifacts for carrying in pockets, these miniature manifestations personify peace, harmony and partnership in a time when dominance & strife seems the norm. Beads worn or handled absorb our very essence becoming an extension of who we are and what we wish to become.
CLAY is my voice in this wilderness and I love where it takes me!
A NARRATIVE ON MY CAREER IN CLAY
Before I found clay, I ate, slept and breathed interior and architectural design, and spent all of my time engrossed in the needs of others. I had no life without my client list. Then in 1994 while on vacation, I attended a workshop given by Jeanne Haskell at The Vermont Clay Studio in Montpelier, Vermont. At the time, I didn't know the difference between wet clay and the mud in my driveway, but once my hands started poking and stretching and feeling the hunk of clay I was allotted, I knew I had to learn more. Upon returning home, I immediately signed up for classes at Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown, New Jersey and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I took workshops offered by clay artists whose work I came to admire through area galleries and national publications. I was being consumed by all things CLAY. The more I experienced, the more I realized there is to experience, and the more I needed to ‘do clay.’
Although I didn't start out on the wheel learning to make strictly functional ware such as plates and bowls, I did begin hand building very utilitarian pieces. I love gladiolas, and I never had a vase tall enough to hold them, so I slab built a whole series of ‘GLAD’ vases. Three of the first ten leaked, and I quickly learned about properly attaching a bottom and testing for water-tightness at the bisque stage. At classes and workshops I was introduced to texturing and stretching clay, building forms which have three-legs, lids, handles or spouts and using engobes such as terra sigillata as alternatives to glazes. I raku-fired with Steve Branfman in Vermont, sawdust-fired with Jimmy Clark in Chester Springs and was quickly becoming a clay junkie! Sometimes my drug of choice was stoneware; sometimes earthenware with an occasional snort of cream cheese porcelain. Other times I reached nirvana by simply burnishing or texturing the various clay bodies I had on hand. Intent on exploring everything I had been exposed to in more detail, I mentally filed away ninety percent of the information for future exploration, then set about starting at the beginning and mastering the three basic hand building techniques of pinching. coiling and slab construction.
My own ‘pinch-strip’ method of hand building evolved from combining elements of these basic techniques. After hand rolling a slab of clay to one eighth inch thick, I cut strips from the slab and continue compress rolling the strips to a thickness of less than one sixteenth inch. These paper-thin strips form the basis of my ‘pinch-strip’ clay constructions. Attaching the initial strip to a clay base, I then pinch each new strip to the one underneath, building up side-walls and capturing the space within. No matter what the piece becomes - a bowl, a pitcher, a gesture pot - it is the space within that makes it useful - benefit comes from what is there; usefulness from what is not there. Eventually the vessel starts to breath on its own. It takes a stance. It gestures. It whispers what it wants to be when it grows up ... and I LISTEN. I follow its lead, never really knowing what is being constructed until we're done.
Finishing a pot with the right glaze was always harder than making a good clay form. Glazes never were explained or discussed at length in any of the classes I took at area art centers; our work came out of the bisque firing and we were expected to thoughtlessly dip our pieces in buckets of runny liquid to create a finish. For years I fought this idea and turned to brushing or pouring glazes on my bisque ware. Then I had an epiphany - the clay slabs I roll out are the fabric I use to make my pieces. If I were a fashion designer, would I attempt to manufacture a line of clothing without first envisioning the colors, textures or patterns of the fabrics I would use for each creation? Of course not! So, why was I doing this as a clay artist? Why was I building forms out of clay ‘muslin’ when I could be using clay fabrics rich with textures, patterns and colors…
I began fantasizing about clay surface finishes at the conceptual, greenware stage and the numerous ways to achieve them. Three years ago, I started an intense investigation into engobes, terra sigillatas, colored earthenware & stoneware clay bodies, stains and underglazes with and without the application of glazes. I constantly explore new ways of creating colorful patterns, textures and finishes on clay slabs and continue to fine tune the transfer-printing methods of German potter, Martin Mohwald which I learned at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. AND I’m still obsessed with HOW MY PIECE WILL LOOK BEFORE I EVEN KNOW WHAT MY PIECE WILL BE! Simply put, I’m hell bent on becoming familiar with ALL my options. I draw upon my years of acquired knowledge constantly and still employ a thought provoking ‘what if’ every time I sit down to create my signature work.
I also offer workshops and classes through area art centers to clay enthusiasts where I share my own and other artists’ techniques of hand building and my enlightening discoveries about how to create clay fabrics and understand the role glazes play on the pots we make.
CLAY... I love where it takes me.
Barbara Hanselman