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Queen of Clay
Joyce Maurus-Sullivan, potter, artist, maker of functional beauty is the queen of clay. Enter her gallery at Lafayette Clayworks and see antique tables decorated with goblets and bowls, leafy-looking vases and candle-holders in the shapes of flowers. Vases drip with glaze and planters sparkle with copper dust. Celadon tea cups beg to be held and drunk from. And ceramic masks with peacock and pheasant feathers from sullivan’s own birds decorate the walls. “I try to stick to functional stoneware,” Sullivan says.
For the unenlightened, she says some clays are more functional than others, more durable and tight. And there are trade-offs.
Low temperature raku firing quickly produces nice metallics, crackle and low luster patinas. It makes matte blacks where no glaze was applied. Raku pieces are very decorative but probably won’t hold water.
High-temperature kilns produce more durable pieces with a lustrous finish. They take longer to fire.
Sullivan fires some of her work in the double-chambered Naborigama kiln at Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey. The purpose of the kiln is to take the residual heat from the first chamber and use it in the back chamber. This makes the firing process faster. Sometimes coarse salt is poured into fire portholes in the back chamber. “It makes the glaze more shiny and juicy,” she says.
Clay in ascending order of quality:
Terra cotta can only be fired at a low temperature and is not durable.
Earthenware is somewhat stronger.
Stoneware can be fired at a higher temperature. Even without a glaze it can be water tight.
Porcelain is the highest grade it can get thin and translucent.
In the studio, the day’s sculpture class works with clay to which paper has been added. It gives the clay more strength.
Come visit Lafayette Clayworks at Springfest Flower & Garden Show at the Sussex County Fairgrounds from March 12 to 16.
Or visit the Gallery and Studio at:
22 Wantage Avenue, PO Box 289, Branchville, NJ
973-948-3987
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published March 09, 2004
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