(Roussel’s Display at Artists’ Gallery Sunriver | Photo by Kenneth Marunowski)
Featured Maker: Peter Roussel
In the January edition of Cascade A&E (view online at issuu.com/cascadeae/docs/a_e_january_2021), I introduced a new series that explores the often fuzzy boundaries between arts and crafts through the lens of those whose creations blur the distinction between these categories. Common to those interviewed for this series are the galleries in which their works are displayed: the artist cooperative, or artist co-op. In exchange for a reduced commission charge on works sold (say, 15 percent instead of the typical 50 percent fine art galleries command), artist co-op members pay a monthly fee (usually between $100 and $200) and work a designated number of shifts per month. Frequently featured within the walls of a co-op style gallery are paintings, sculptures, ceramics, photography and jewelry, a fine, non-discriminatory blend of arts and crafts however defined.
For non-specialists, if asked what disciplines fall under the arts category, many first think of the visual arts: painting, drawing and sculpture. If pressed further, music and poetry may make the list. With respect to crafts, answers might include ceramics, glass blowing, fiber and textile arts. Objects created through these “craft” disciplines often have an associated utilitarian function that separates them from objects of pure aesthetic contemplation, for better or for worse. At the root of all the arts however conceived lies the notion of “making,” and this series is concerned with makers, their works, and their perspective of their practice and creations as either art or craft.
This month’s guest maker is Peter Roussel, a ceramic artist who creates dazzlingly beautiful pots and platters through a variety of alternative firing techniques. Ceramics is an ancient industry, reaching back thousands of years. “The oldest known ceramic artifact is dated as early as 28,000 BCE…,” says ceramics.org, “a statuette of a woman, named the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, from a small prehistoric settlement near Brno, in the Czech Republic.” Interesting to consider what function this statuette served: aesthetic contemplation perhaps associated with the notion of reverence, a utilitarian function possibly linked to the concept of fertility, a mix between the two, or an altogether foreign perspective that we simply cannot know? “Starting approximately in 9,000 BCE,” the website continues, “clay-based ceramics became popular as containers for water and food, art objects, tiles and bricks, and their use spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe,” a pivotal time where we note a multitude of functions attributed to such ceramics across a variety of locations. As ceramic pottery became increasingly adorned with painting, its status as a genuine piece of art was solidified, an observation echoed by Roussel in the interview below.
(ceramics.org/about/what-are-engineered-ceramics-and-glass/brief-history-of-ceramics-and-glass).
Me: How did you get started as a creative individual?
Peter: At a young age, around seven years old, I had rheumatic fever. Treatment then was complete bed rest, and I was down for two years from 1953-1955. I had a school-appointed tutor two days a week and an art tutor one day a week. I always looked forward to that one day filled with drawings, watercolors and clay. From that moment on, I have been active in the arts, and for the last few decades, my main medium has been clay.
Me: Describe your art or craft.
Peter: I find shaping a lump of clay by hand or throwing a form on the potter’s wheel immensely pleasurable. Particularly when throwing, I am totally focused, almost in a meditative state and at one with the clay, something like “the Zen of pottery.” Sometimes I have a shape in mind, and sometimes I just let the clay talk to me. I focus on shape and style, always exploring new possibilities. I am not a utilitarian potter.
I enjoy the process of alternative firing techniques because the results I achieve are always unique. Alternative firing is often referred to as raku, horse hair, sagger, slip resist, naked raku, smoked, fumed and pit-fired pottery. I like to think of my pots as blank canvases ready for surface treatments quite different from traditional glazing techniques. My pots are for decorative purposes and indoor use only; they are neither food safe nor water resistant. Finished pieces are sealed with a bowling wax or polyurethane to protect the surface.
Me: Very interesting! When I think of raku, I think of traditional Japanese pottery used in tea ceremonies. As I’ve come to learn, however, there seems to be a distinction between “Eastern” and “Western,” or “American,” raku. Western raku, as ceramicartsnetwork.org explains, involves “a process in which work is removed from the kiln at bright red heat and subjected to post-firing reduction (or smoking) by being placed in containers of combustible materials, which blackens raw clay and causes cracking in the glaze surface.” Such a process yields exciting and unpredictable results.
Me: Do you consider your work art or a craft?
Peter: For me, making a pot is a skilled craft while the finishing of my work, “glazing,” is an art. Most of my firing is done with horse hair, sugar, salt, ferric chloride and copper sulfate, or some combination of the above techniques. Such techniques, even with exactly the same clay and applications, will always generate one-of-a-kind pieces since the process cannot be readily controlled.
I often wrap my works in heavy aluminum foil and place them in the raku kiln, four to six pieces at a time. I do not simply fire them to a certain temperature. The trick is not how hot you fire the pieces; it’s the rate at which the temperature rises because the chemical molecules expand and interact differently depending on the length of time fired in accordance with the rate of temperature increase. I’ve been exploring these techniques for approximately twenty years, and some of the results still amaze me simply because they are so unique. I consider this phase of my work “art.”
Me: How does your work address artistic concerns, like those that a painter or sculptor considers (form, composition, color, value, texture)?
Peter: In the early 1960’s when I started throwing pots, I would draw and paint on a white glaze surface with iron or cobalt oxides. I would paint figures, heads, horses, or just simple designs and then fire the pieces. I’ve also painted with acrylics on white bisque ware. But that was years ago; I have a much different focus now. Clay in the wet throwing stages or leather-hard stages can be textured, shaped, and carved, which I do occasionally while sticking to my alternative firing routine. Like a sculptor, I consider the shape of the vessel, its form and balance. Like a painter, I approach my pieces ready to apply my technique of choice that I feel would best fit the form.
Me: What is your opinion on the arts / crafts dyad?
Peter: First of all, I’d like to comment about people young and old who say they wish they had artistic talent. Just the act of creating anything, whether art or craft, is good for the soul. Best not be so critical of yourself. Just do whatever gives you pleasure in any media you choose. Then you have created something, and the inherent pleasure is in the making.
In some ways, I think that money may play a part in what one considers art or craft. I consider artistic pieces basically as one-of-a-kind ceramics. Production potters of utilitarian work like the ubiquitous mug seem to be more craft-oriented because they are mass producing different shapes and using the same glazes. I personally do not care if I’m considered an artist or craftsperson. It’s the complete process from start to finish that motivates me. The frosting on the cake, so to speak, is when I see the emotional reaction and attachment a buyer makes with your creation! This emotional content supersedes labels such as art or craft and enters the unnameable.
Me: Well said, Peter. Thank you!
To view the incredible work of Peter Roussel, please visit Artists’ Gallery Sunriver (Sunriver), Tumalo Art Co. (Bend), Hood Avenue Art Gallery (Sisters) or Earthworks Gallery (Yachats). You may also visit his website at potterybypeter.com.