if you see clay
16 Stokers, Trax Gallery, 2/23/2008
16 Stokers was a wood-fired ceramic show in Berkeley. This was one of the most crowded art events I have attended
in a long time. It's a very small venue, and with the 16 artists who were showing work presumably in attendance, it's no
wonder space was tight.
Well, so what? Who cares about the art openings? Lets just talk about the art. The fact is, with ceramics, and
especially wood-fired ceramics, community is inextricable from the artwork. It takes teamwork to feed a
log into the kiln every 5-7 minutes for 10 days straight, not to mention the time-consuming wood preparation, and loading &
unloading of the kiln.
I was recently speaking with a "process painter" who was explaining his artwork to me. This painter was telling me that
his artwork is as much about the demanding process as the end result. For him, his process doesn't just inform his
aesthetic, it is his aesthetic. This statement could easily have been made by one of the Pope Valley
wood-fire crew. I can't imagine a process that is more demanding, or one which shares in the artistic results as much as
this.
The work that comes out of a wood kiln looks timeless. Many of these pieces could have been made
thousands of years ago, recently escavated from an archaelogical dig. Wood firing lends both a simplicity and complexity to the ceramic surface.
Wood ash covers up details (such as fingerprints). At the sime time, this ash adds rich layers and pools of color and
texture, none of which are fully controllable by the artist. A person could spend a lifetime of continual
discovery of the richness of each piece. These are objects that revel in their existence. The cups and bowls in the show are not
cups and bowls that you are likely to see in your aunt Sally's house, or your next-door neighbor, or of anyone you know.
Made and appreciated by a select few, this work is the antithesis of IKEA (in aesthetics, attainability, and cost).
The gallery was transformed by both the pottery and their makers. It was exciting
to see an art gallery filled to capacity in the celebration of an uncommon craft.