Ceramists, like other artists, must decide when their work is finished. They need to judge whether they have met the criteria they set out to achieve. Successful artists are very good at judging their own work. They ensure that they achieve excellence by keeping in mind the criteria they want to meet and working until they succeed. Sometimes artists change their minds about what they want to achieve as they work. But, in any case, they still need to judge when their work is good enough to determine that it is done.

Some ceramists judge their work to be complete when it is fired -- choosing not to decorate or glaze it in any way.

St. Ives Pottery, British, 20th century, “Pipkin”, stoneware, 4 1/4” by 5 1/4”,
gift of Hanna Rachwalsky, Arizona State University Art Museum

Other ceramists choose to finish their pieces by glazing them, or through other techniques.

Glazes are made mostly of silica, a mineral that melts when heated at high temperatures to form glass. Various minerals are mixed with the silica to make different kinds of glazes. Probably the most famous is the celadon [SELL ah don] glaze (usually a muted jade green), which was developed in China about eleven hundred years ago.

Elaine Coleman, American, covered dish, porcelain, 5” by 7 3/4”,
gift of Mrs. Emanual Gerard, Arizona State University Art Museum

Raku is a decorative firing process developed in Japan and popular with contemporary ceramists. In raku firing, instead of gradually increasing the temperature, the temperature is raised more quickly. The glaze is manipulated in various ways when the glaze is molten.

Don Schaumburg

Don Schaumburg

Majolica [Mah YAHL lik ah or Mah JAHL lik ah] is a low-fired glaze brought from Persia to Europe in the 13th Century. To make majolica, ceramists apply multicolored glazes (made with metallic oxides) over a white glaze. The Spanish brought this colorful over-glazing technique to Mexico, where it is still very popular, especially in Puebla.

Rosie Wynkoop revived majolica glazing in her work below.

Rosie Wynkoop, Bowl

Rosie Wynkoop, Box

Some ceramists use different colors of slip (clay mixed with water) to decorate the surfaces of their ceramic work. The potters of Mata Ortiz in northern Mexico use slip decoration.

Jeannie Otis Fronski experiments with slip decoration. She says her use of “glaze and overglaze in a finger painting manner is a direct response to the ceramic materials and their color quality in the wet state.”

Jeanne Otis Fronske, Coriolis Currents, 2002, 11" x 60" x 1 1/2"

Some ceramists, like Patricia Sannit, incise (cut into) clay before it is completely dry. She incised geometric patterns on selected surfaces of her vessel.

Patricia Sannit, United States, Incised Vessel, 1998, white stoneware, handbuilt, 28.5"

In Vague Trail, Kurt Weiser revived a technique of china painting, which was popular 100 years ago.

Kurt Weiser, United States, Vague Trail, 2001, porcelain, 15.25 x 18 x 7”

In her highly decorated pieces, Karen Koblitz combines many techniques to finish her work.

Karen Koblitz, United States, Judaica Still Life, 1990, low-fire clay and glaze, 42 x 61.875”

She adds forms made by pouring slip into molds, shapes slabs of clay when they are wet, presses clay into molds, and layers one glaze over another.

Koblitz repeats shapes and colors to create patterns within her piece. A painted, alternating grape and leaf pattern surrounds the bottom and sides of the piece. A pattern of attached three-dimensional leaves and flowers stretches across the top. Each of the three attached slabs has a border pattern and an overall pattern.

Even the attached ceramic eggs, pitcher, candelabrum, goblet, plate and silverware are enriched with repeat patterns.

Karen Koblitz’s Judaica Still Life is overflowing with symbols associated with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Passover celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, 3000 years ago. The first two nights of the eight-day holiday are celebrated with lavish meals called Seders in which stories are told, songs are song and the history of Passover is celebrated. Passover is marked by the eating of matzo, unleavened bread, and by the celebration of an elaborate Seder on the first two nights.

The Seder plate contains foods that each have a special meaning for the Jewish people so that Jews will always remember their struggle for freedom. Judaica Still Life shows:

• A roasted egg as a symbol of Spring
• Matzo - on the morning of the Exodus, the Jews were so rushed in getting out of Egypt that the bread didn’t have time to rise -- hence they ate it unleavened.

A dreidel (a child’s toy top) sits by the plate, although it is normally associated with Hanukkah. The dreidel was used as an education tool to help people study the Talmud. Four glasses of wine are poured to represent the four stages of the exodus, and a fifth is poured for the Prophet Elijah. Other Jewish symbols include the Star of David (six-pointed star), a Menorah (seven-branched candle stick), and a single candlestick, which is used the night before Passover to search the house for any bread to be removed from the house.

The many different patterns seen in Judaica Still Life are borrowed from Jewish cloth from different countries and eras. The different patterns help to express the idea that Jews come from many places.

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