Pottery Terms

▪Slip and score - the process in which clay parts are marked with a tool and moistened with a gluey clay mixture to properly join 2 elements.

▪Incise - the process of cutting marks into the surface of the clay

▪Knead - to work air out of clay with the palm of the hands

▪Wedge - the folding and slamming of clay to remove air bubbles

Stages of Clay

▪Leather hard - when clay has air-dried to the consistency of leather and can be incised.

▪Greenware - clay in complete air-dried state before firing (very fragile)

▪Bisqueware - after firing, bisque is the state that the pottery is in.

▪Glazeware - the state pottery is in after glazing and firing a second time

▪Glaze - a shiny, decorative, enamel-like coating

▪Slip - a clay coating of glue like consistency

Clay Hints

▪Wedge clay BEFORE starting until you see no air bubbles.

▪Nothing more than 1/4 inch thick or it will explode.

▪Slip and score parts on properly or piece will break off in kiln

▪Coiling needs to be scored on the outer edge of both sides and smoothed after joining

▪Keep all clay COVERED with plastic until finished or it will get too dry

▪Thin walled objects will warp in kiln so put on a base.

▪Soaking clay with wetness will make it dry unevenly, warp and crack

▪Wedge clay GENTLY so you don’t destroy clay structure and get brittle products

▪No closed air spaces - piece blows up in the kiln.

Clay Procedures

▪Absolutely NO clay down the sink! Wash hands in the buckets. Empty when half full.

▪Toss clay water outside away from traffic areas▪Recycle dry clay in RECYCLE bucket. Place in bucket

GENTLY! Recycle leftovers immediately▪No clay in the garbage! It’s expensive.▪Do NOT TOUCH other people’s work! Put tape labels

on everything. ▪Flying clay gets cleanup detentions and removal from the

activity. So does horseplay and poor cleanup.▪Broken glazeware cuts like a razor!

Coiling Method

Create the bottom of your pot by pressing out a pancake of clay then trimming it to size.

Roll a clay coil which you will use to create your pot.

Clay coils stack up to build the walls of your pot.

Place your first coil on the base of your pot, then weld the inner joint between coil and base.

When coil-building pottery, the last clay coil for the pot is slightly thinner and tapers to a

point.

Finish your coil-built pot by welding the interior and upper seams of the end of the last coil, then smoothing the top edge.

Slab Building

Make a clay slab by pressing against a canvas work surface.

Score around the edge of the clay slab base.

Measure against the pot's base in order to size your first side slab.

Attach the first two sides of your slab pot.

Create and measure the slabs for the last two sides of your basic slab-built pot.

Attaching the third side of your slab-built pot.

Finish your slab pot by welding and smoothing the joints and top edge.

Rankin Inlet CeramicsMatchbox Gallery - Inuit Pottery

▪Handbuilt pottery▪All pieces finished with a slip called terra sigillata,

which is applied and then burnished by hand▪Sawdust fired - The work is placed in a barrel of

sawdust and burned completely. This gives the work a textured surface and mottling of tones of black, grey and

brown.▪Since 1963, government funded - helped and hindered

art production in the North▪Matchbox Project spanned the most important era in the

development of the Inuit art industry▪Chose clay because it wasn’t an indigenious art medium

MEET ROGER AKSADJUAK▪Born in 1972,

▪was primarily a stone carver until he began ceramics for about 11 years with his father

who was a major influence.▪.. Roger has an obvious, imaginative style,

which is characterized by delicate and detailed images.

A professional artist since he was fourteen▪He is recognized as one of the most

innovative and skilled of the ceramic artists ever to come out of Rankin Inlet.

▪Two of his pieces were selected as the first artworks purchased by the Nunavut

Legislative Assembly for their permanent collection in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Many Sedna's By Roger Aksadjuak

Three Pots By Roger Aksadjuak

Themes in Roger’s Work

▪Likes to explore the theme of birth

▪Explores the importance of fertility and the “feminine” in nature

▪Favourite legendary figure is Sedna, the sea- goddess, who is shown transforming in from creature to person and back in his work.

▪Reincarnation, the way living things are born and replaced in nature, is also a repeating theme.

▪Enjoys combining themes in one work, connecting nature and legendary figures

Birth of Sedna By

Roger Aksadjua

k

Dreaming of Sedna By Roger Aksadjuak

Coming Home By Roger

Aksadjuak

Four Kids on a Muskox By Roger Aksadjuak

MEET PIERRE AUPILARDJUK

▪ His father is Mariano Aupilardjuk, one of the region's most respected artists and elder statesmen.and developed Pierre’s interest in art

▪. He is an innovative artist whose refreshing ceramic work and carvings always express a new insight.

▪One can feel the genuine joy of creation reflected in each piece as well as oral tradition and shared knowledge.

▪He is a skilled hunter who spends much of his time out on the land.

▪Style is elegant, direct and balanced.

▪His work reflects the proud independence and gratefulness Inuit feel when they are able to find what they need to survive.

About Nunavut By Pierre

Aupilardjuk

With Father By Pierre Aupilardjuk

MEET JOHN KUROK ▪Born in 1977,

▪He is an excellent draftsman and printmaker.

▪John has had a strong attraction for masks, clay busts and other images of faces.

▪He works with sensitivity on each piece, developing a personality for every one -from austere and contained to a spirited youthful look.

▪Sawdust firing reflects the personal approach taken by John. The details and subtle nuances of his work can be seen easily with this type of finish.

▪Works with states of mind rather than experiences.

▪Uses symbolism tied to Inuit identity, principles and values and feels a strong connection to it even though he has never experienced it.

▪The story is secondary. Emphasis is on relationshop of forms and visual movement of them over the vase surface.

Spirit Chaser By John Kurok

Spirit Chaser By John Kurok

MEET LUCY SANERTANUT

▪originally from Repulse Bay

▪Lucy already enjoyed a successful career as an ivory carver when she moved to Rankin Inlet and joined the Matchbox ceramic program.

▪ She has worked with the gallery for the past ten years.

Her pieces have always shown a delicacy of technique in combination with strong images.

▪On two occasions, Lucy was invited to participate in the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik, where she presented her ceramics and demonstrated both her clay technique and stone carving skills.

Shaman’s Muskox

7 DreamsBy Lucy Sanertanut

White Pot By Lucy Sanertanut

Four Winds

Faces With Fish

Faces With Seals

Meet Yvo Samgushak

▪The last of the veteran ceramists from the original government run project in 1990.

▪One of the first instructors of the Matchbox Project

▪Resident elder in his 60's

▪Can’t hear or speak

▪Excellent hunter and Search and Rescue Operator

▪During his 1st decade of pottery he explored shaministic radiating masks

▪Lately he explores pieces recalling his past - people or social practices - went from mostly faces to elaborate pieces showing full figures in groups or processions in traditional garments

Large Pot By Yvo Samgushak

Pottery Assignment

1.Create one of the following using the COIL method:

a pota candle holder

a spirit box

It needs a minimum of 4 structures added to it’s outside i.e a beak or a figure.

It can include incising or patterning.

It should express one of the following themes:- man and nature interconnected

- the spirit world- faces

- a retelling of a part of a legend

2.Paint your creation with acrylic paint.