Art Reviews: Form and function change under fire, ceramists' work shows

Thursday, October 25, 2001

By Ellen Wilson

When a ceramist puts a piece of pottery in the kiln, there is a necessary surrender to what the heat will do to the clay. This effect, an acceptance of randomness, can be seen in the works of two very different Pittsburgh artists.

Nationally recognized Edward Eberle is showing a new series of large deconstructed vessels, as well as his more familiar smaller pieces, at Concept Art Gallery in Regent Square through Nov. 4.

Eberle works with white porcelain, which he decorates with black terra sigillata, a very fine clay. He uses the latter to paint fine-lined drawings on his forms' surfaces or applies it as a thin slip to mask over the white ground, which is then scratched through to create a white-on-black decoration.

The resulting scenes are mostly figurative, "paintings in the round," as Concept director Sam Berkovitz calls them.

The effect is both reminiscent of early pottery, in the use of an ancient decorative technique, and post-apocalyptic in the twisted bodies and anxious mood. The intertwined nudes, some with animal heads, reveal no specific narrative but rather appeal to the viewer on a more profound level, calling to mind life studies by some of the Old Masters, yet with a distinctly modern edge.

"They are more about interpersonal relationships," says Berkovitz. "Consciousness levels, mythologies."

The new series of vessels, which stand about 2 feet tall, are wheel-thrown, dried until they are leather hard, then broken, reassembled, painted with terra sigillata and fired. In the firing, these remade vessels slump in unpredictable ways, or sometimes break altogether, and are then reformed in a new way after the firing, calling into question the role of the piece as vessel.

The smaller bowls and platters are more traditional in shape, some with geometric decoration, and there are a few tiny vases, barely large enough to contain Eberle's tortured figures.

His kiln is gas-fueled and, as Berkovitz points out, the focus is on the decoration of the vessel rather than on its form.

In the work of Dale Huffman, which can be seen at the Clay Place Gallery in "Wood Fire" through Nov. 7, form is everything. It appeals more to the hand, with any decoration a result of an organic process.

Huffman considers himself a partner both of the clay and the fire, and his very informative video that accompanies the exhibition illustrates what he means.

Wood ash makes a natural glaze, and different kinds of wood produce different kinds of ash. While Huffman says his first job is to create a pot that looks good, his next job is to load the kiln properly, to think like the flame itself, stacking pots in such a way that the flames paint them with ash.

For days the kiln burns, and the fire must be stoked every 6 or 7 minutes.

Once the fire is burning, Huffman manipulates the blaze by opening and closing specific vents in stages.

When the kiln cools and is opened, the history of each pot, bowl or tiny cup is visible in the traces of the flame or the impressions of the small seashells used to separate pieces that are stacked on top of each other.

It takes days for Huffman to get to know each piece once it is finished, and the irregular texture as well as the small size of many of them give them a lot of tactile appeal.

Also at The Clay Place Gallery is a collection of functional teapots by Ron Pivovar.

Pivovar's designs leave less for the fire to do, but the earthy colors and handles formed of twigs, leather or rattan make them a fitting accompaniment to Huffman's work.