Double Walled Vessel : : Aurora Glaze 20 x 20 cm
Double Walled Vessels
A large collection of double walled vessels created over the last decade exhibiting a very diverse range of clay bodies, firing methods, forms, surfaces, and textures. All of the works were thrown from one ball of clay; there are no additions or joins. Some of them were thrown upside down.
Clay Bodies
All clay bodies are high fire stoneware clays fired to 1280°C in reduction in a gas kiln or in oxidation in an electric kiln. All works have had a glaze applied to the interior to ensure they are watertight while the exterior of some pieces are unglazed.
Iron-rich Clays
Many of the black, dark brown and red clays, some of which are quite coarse, are my own blend of stoneware clays and oxides. Some of these have had additional fluxes added to the clay body and several have had a shino glaze applied before firing to 1280°C in reduction in a gas kiln.
Southern Ice and Lumina Porcelains
On some of these works I have applied a green or blue matte crystalline glaze or an ice blue crackle glaze prior to firing to 1280°C in oxidation in an electric kiln.
Shah Mat : : Details 20 x 20 cm
Surface Finishes
Shino Glaze
Shino glazes were first created during the Momoyama period (1573 - 1615) in Japan. Several types of shino glaze were developed exhibiting different colours and surface textures. They often have a dimpled surface texture like lemon skin or even 'crawl' away from the clay body revealing patches of unglazed clay. While such an organic, irregular surface is part of a Japanese aesthetic and was highly prized for tea ceremony wares it may be seen as a defect in the west where a perfectly even glazed surface is commonly expected in functional ware. A common variety of shino is a thick white glaze with the appearance of snow. It is thought this type of shino was a result of the desire to emulate the surface of a pure white clay body known as porcelain, which had been discovered in China.
Carbon Trap Shino Glaze
A type of glaze now known as American shino was developed in the early seventies by Viginia Witt, who, as part of a project set by the University of Minnesota to try and replicate early Japanese glazes, was the first to add soda ash to a shino type glaze. When fired in the reducing atmosphere of a gas kiln as the soda ash melts it traps the carbon from the atmosphere of the kiln resulting in the grey and black speckling of the glaze and also accounts for the shiny iridescent surfaces on some of the works - see Shah Mat above.
I adapted the glaze used on these vessels substituting American with Australian ingredients.
Carbon trap shino can be quite varied in appearance as it is very sensitive to firing conditions, thickness of application and clay body, the glaze appears quite differently on the Southern Ice porcelain cups I created in 2015.
First Series 2018
The first series of seven double walled vessels was created in 2018. The exterior is unglazed and the variation in colour results from firing in reduction in a gas kiln. Vessel 4 shows the strongest reduction and is the darkest.The interior is glazed so the pieces hold water. While they may be enjoyed purely as sculptural objects, they can be used as vases.
Moreton Bay Region Art Awards 2019
Winner for category 3D Works
Two of the works, Double Walled Vessels 1 and 4 (slideshow image #46), won the category prize for 3D works in the Moreton Bay Region Art Awards 2019.
Judge's comments:
"The two pieces that comprise this work are technically exquisite. They are poised and elegant, their forms strike a perfect balance between function and abstraction."
