 |
Richard Bresnahan American, Teapot 1995 Stoneware with natural glazes 6-3/4 inches high, 8 inches long 96.25.2a,b |
Bresnahan employs natural, INDIGENOUS materials in each step of the process of making ceramic wares. He is committed to using SUSTAINABLE resources and recycled waste materials from the surrounding area. His philosophy corresponds both with a Japanese sensitivity to nature and the commitment of Benedictine monks to preserve natural resources through the judicious use of native, renewable materials. The clay he uses was excavated from a nearby road construction site where it had washed across and blocked a roadway. Instead of being discarded, eighteen thousand tons of clay were moved onto the grounds of the university and will provide resources for making pots for the next hundred-plus years. In the same spirit of conservation, the water used for washing the clay and preparing the GLAZES is filtered and reused.
Bresnahan has built a special wood-firing kiln at St. John's out of recycled brick and other materials. It is fueled by deadfall from trees on the monastery's grounds and waste wood from local manufacturers. Modeled after an ancient TUNNEL KILN used in Japan in the twelfth century, the new kiln's design and construction combine information Bresnahan learned from direct observation in Japan with his own theories about wood-firing. He named the kiln "Johanna" after his teacher Sister Johanna Becker, a scholar of Japanese art and ceramic specialist at St. John's, who strongly influenced his decision to become a potter.1
The kiln has four chambers, each serving a distinctly different purpose. The front chamber, where the fire is built and stoked, is for producing natural glazing. Ash from the wood bark is deposited on the pots, melts in the intense heat, and fuses with the SILICA in the clay to form colorful, shimmering patterns. The second chamber, cooler than the first, contains pieces covered with glazes made from the ashes of local waste materials such as sunflower hulls or navy bean straw.
The teapot was fired in the Tanegashima, or third and largest chamber, which duplicates a relatively new process first created in kilns on Tanegashima Island, off the coast of Japan. The pottery here is unglazed, as in the first chamber. But the results are quite different. Three channels in the floor introduce water into the kiln at high temperatures, which increases OXIDATION. This produces patterns with wide color variations, from soft blacks to vibrant reds, oranges, browns, and blues. The key to achieving the rich, dramatic range of Tanegashima colors lies in the fourth underground kiln chamber, which contains no pots at all. Its seven ATMOSPHERIC DAMPERS create a BACK PRESSURE that enables the other three chambers to work together. A successful firing is not determined by where the pots are placed in the kiln; rather, the secret lies in "where the pots are not."2
This pot comes out of the first firing of the specially designed kiln in October 1995. Twenty-one people worked in shifts around the clock for nine days to satisfy the needs of this fire-beathing "dragon." The kiln reached internal temperatures of over 2500 degrees Fahrenheit; at this extreme, common clay is among an exclusive group of heat-resistant earthly compounds that can hold together. The teapot was among eight thousand works fired. Bresnahan's understanding of the potential of the wood-burning kiln, his creative and technical expertise, and the unpredictability of some aspects of the process all combined to produce works of dramatic and subtle beauty.3
Notes
1. Matthew Welch, "Out of the Fire," Arts Magazine, April 1996, pp. 8-9.
2. Richard Bresnahan, "First Fire," Studio Potter 24, no. 2 (June 1996), pp. 50-53.
3. For an excellent description of the process involved in firing a wood-burning kiln, see Barry Lopez, "Before the Temple of Fire," Harper's Magazine, January 1998, pp. 35-50.
Key ideas.
Where does it come from?
What does it look like?
How was it used?
How was it made?
Discussion questions.
Additional resources.
Select another piece.
