Triptych
1981
When I work with slips over fired glazes, there is much that is accidental, especially in the way the cracks form. Yet I have considerable control by choosing the method of application. I can brush slip, pour it, trowel it, throw it, drop it, make it thin or thick. Each method will create different forms of cracking.
The force of a natural process - like gravity, a human gesture, an explosion, the hammering of a nail or the dropping of slip on a concave surface - produces a record of the moment of creation, as form is changed by the energy and material interaction. It is this moment of interaction that fascinates me...The idea of art as an event, rather than a description, appeals to me very much.
--Robert Sperry, "Abstractions in Black and White," Ceramics Monthly, vol. 38 no. 6 (June 1990)
Stoneware with glaze and slip
each 15 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 2 5/8 in. (39.4 x 39.4 x 6.6cm)
Anne Gould Hauberg Northwest Crafts Fund
82.123
Photo: Paul Macapia