August Issue 2001
Nature Etchings & Wood-Fired Pottery at Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC
Showing at the Folk Art Center's Focus Gallery in Asheville, NC, through Aug. 22 is the work of three Western North Carolina artists who have been innovators in their chosen craft for over 20 years. These members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild have taken their craft to a level of accomplishment that only years of steady focus can bring. Jay Pfeil (Black Mountain, NC) creates richly detailed portraits of the natural world around her in etchings and engravings, and Will Ruggles and Douglass Rankin (Bakersville, NC) of Rock Creek Pottery are widely influential potters specializing in wood-fired ceramics.
Ruggles and Rankin studied ceramics at different colleges, and met each other in 1977 while both were apprenticing for Wisconsin potter Randy Johnson. A kinship between them grew from a mutual appreciation for historic folk pots and the methods and materials used in them: "We came to realize that the pots we admired and respected most had been created using very simple technology in clay preparation, forming and firing." Together they moved to Western NC to create their own studio dedicated to folk pottery, known as Rock Creek Pottery. To pursue their love of traditional methods, they built a three-chambered, wood-fired kiln, following a traditional Japanese style used in Kyoto. The quality of their pots have remained consistent over the years, frequently refined toward an ideal of durable, rustic, functional folk pottery.
Ruggles and Rankin fire their pots four times each year as part of a nine-week work cycle involving mixing their own clay, throwing the pots, glazing them, and firing them for 16 to 20 hours. Because their remote studio is not connected to a power grid, the labor involved can be intensive. The small amount of electricity used is from a water-powered generator from a nearby stream. Foot-powered "kick wheels" are used to throw their forms, contributing to the relaxed, soft-clay look of their pots. The long, wood-burning process involves a salt additive; the salt reacts with the heat and forms a textured glaze on the pots' surfaces.
Rock Creek Pottery has received critical acclaim from ceramicists and clay enthusiasts for their purist philosophy and the enduring qualities it lends to each piece. Their work has been featured in many books and magazines, and has been collected and exhibited throughout the country. Although their processes are old-fashioned, they are considered major innovators, influencing a generation of potters seeking precise craftsmanship through a simpler technology. Each new kiln opening is a festive occasion, not only for collectors, but Ruggles and Rankin themselves are eager to learn what new qualities the fire has given to their pots, and how the latest refinements have favored them. This exhibition features the fruits of a recent firing, including, as always, some new innovations toward a rustic ideal.
Since childhood, Jay Pfeil has been involved in drawing, painting and different forms of printmaking. Many techniques were taught by her mother, but from an early age, Pfeil has also learned from her own experimentation. After graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Wisconsin in the early 1970s, she spent five years as a street artist in Berkeley and San Francisco. In the 1980s, she moved to Western NC, and while raising a family, began focusing her work on the wildlife of the Blue Ridge Mountains. An expert at botanical studies, Pfeil's work often captures the intimacy of a sketchbook drawing, reproducing a perfect bloom along a hiking trail. Her etchings and engravings actually do begin as sketches of plants seen along trails, sometimes becoming a study of a single plant, while other times an entire landscape is recreated. To color her prints, Pfeil uses multiple plates, meaning a different metal plate is made for each color in the print. A print may require five or more plates to get the full color effect, each plate transferring a different color onto the paper. To make a print, metal plates are prepared with a "ground" material, often of wax, and the image is made by carving away the wax and exposing the metal below it. The plate is then immersed in an acid, corroding the exposed metal and creating grooves that can hold ink when printing. Pfeil also makes engravings, which involves cutting an image directly on the plate.
In this exhibition, many new prints will be shown for the first time. Some were inspired by new growth in the forest, depicting the first leaves of spring that can be "as colorful as flowers." Another series in this show focuses on the view of trees from the perspective of a hiker or passerby. When looking up at a tree from its center, branches and tangled undergrowth arch above the viewer; these majestic views show the powerful inner structure of trees. Most of Pfeil's work is taken from sketches drawn on various hiking trails of Western NC.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the center at 828/298-7928 or on the web at (http://www.southernhighlandguild.org).
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