Making Ceramic Sculpture: Techniques * Projects * Inspirations ( A Lark Ceramics Book) - Hardcover

Acero, Raul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579901751 ISBN 13: 9781579901752

Publisher: Lark Books, 2000

Synopsis

The introduction to a popular and under-published aspect of ceramics. For centuries, clay has been used not only to make vessels but also to create sculptures. For beginning clayworkers and for experienced potters who can't stand to make one more mug, here's a guide to sculpting figurative and nonfigurative forms in clay. Step-by-step color photos and easy-to-follow instructions explain how to make seven sculptures: a resting cat, a whimsical fish, a colorful bird in a tree pedestal, a mythological bird-human creature, an abstract head, a standing figure, and a relief wall piece. Learn how to handbuild hollow sculptures using slab, pinch, and coil. Discover which types of clay, firing techniques, and surface treatments work best with sculpture.
For inspiration, there's a glorious color gallery of some of the best contemporary ceramic sculpture available today.
oA hot new topic in ceramics
oAppealing projects
oHundreds of gallery photos

About this title

About the Author

Raúl Acero is professor of art, sculpture, and ceramics at Warren Wilson College in western North Carolina. He has taught sculpture at numerous colleges, including the Parsons School of Design in New York City. His own sculpture has been widely exhibited and is included in private, public, and corporate collections. He lives in Asheville, NC.

Reviews

Ceramic sculpture refers to hand-built pottery pieces that have no functional use except as art objects. They are unique items created by studio artists that are shaped and fired like conventional pottery. Here, teacher and artist Acero presents basic ceramic techniques with seven projects for human and animal figures that can be used as practice. There is also an extensive gallery section of contemporary ceramic sculpture by other artists, including some in outdoor settings. Directed at beginners in hollow-form sculpture technique, this is a good selection for general arts and crafts collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

North Carolinian Acero, a sculptor with a wonderfully naive perspective and attitude, spends time with beginners in eradicating much of the jargon and mystique surrounding ceramics. It's hard, in fact, to decide which of his chapters is most valuable: a review of the hollow-clay basics (primarily coil, slab, and pinch), surface decoration descriptions, the seven projects, or the multipaged gallery. Every example is supported with excellent large-size color photographs, either procedural or illustrative. Every project is imbued with a sense of creative joy--a primitive stalking cat or a purely abstract wall sculpture. An extensive gallery showcases some of the best works from 104 artisans worldwide, works anyone would be proud to own. Appended are safety issues, cone-firing ranges, formulas, a glossary, resources, and a bibliography. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Lark Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1579901751
• ISBN 13: 9781579901752
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144