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Student Name: Elijah P
Grade: 12
Title: Wood-Fired Jar
Description: This piece has some story behind its creation. I was privileged to get an opportunity to watch a demo put on by Frank Boyden at which he described and showed his use of techniques and approach to clay. This inspired me to try out some of his ideology myself and I created this jar out of Coleman porcelain. I have always loved jars so I decided that I would try my hand at his techniques on a jar which was something I was comfortable with. One of the biggest things that I had to overcome was the idea that perfect symmetry was not necessary and asymmetry was even encouraged through Boyden's approach to clay. Once thrown the piece was bisqued at Lakeridge High School and I decided to stash the jar away until I got a chance to wood-fire it. This chance came when I took a summer wood-fire course at Northern Arizona University. I took the piece all the way from Oregon to Arizona in order to fire it in a Double Catenary Arch Wood kiln. Glaze wise I decided to continue the Boyden way of thinking and put no glaze on the exterior of the pot because of the idea that Coleman porcelain is almost "self glazing" when it hits temperature (cone 10-13). I did however put a liner glaze on the inside out of habit. This piece and several others that came out of that firing have now gotten me hooked on the coloration that porcelains get as well as encouraged me to further my understanding of asymmetry and balance.
Dimensions: (L)9 x (W)5 x (H)5 (Inches)
Weight: 2 Lbs.
School: Lakeridge High School - Lake Oswego, OR
Teacher: Michael Helle
Exhibition: The 19th Annual National K12 Ceramic Exhibition


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