ceramics
Richard Fairbanks, although many times overlooked, was an important American ceramist. He was known as a "loner" and because of this he was never really appreciated for his talent. Fairbanks was greatly influence by his professors. Professor Paul Bonifas, who taught at the University of Washington, was one who left a huge impact on Fairbanks work. Fairbanks created a system of sketching pottery profiles, which stemmed from Bonifas' teachings, as a mean of "thinking on paper." This approach to pottery through sketching was a crucial element that separated Fairbanks from many other Asian-inspired American peers. Although, Fairbanks was a wheel thrown expert, he continued to "think on paper" throughout his creative life. Much of what absorbs Fairbanks interests can be seen in his making of candlesticks, casseroles, and vases. During the later part of his life he created three of his final pieces. One being the Stoneware Heart Plate, 1985, secondly the Stoneware server, 1985, and thirdly the Stoneware Vase, 1985. These were three of Fairbanks last works, which suggest the direction in which he was headed, in terms of what defined his style, before he became deathly ill.
" This statement was said to take great poignancy because of the last two years of his life. Pots are not just a visual object, but something to be cherished on many levels. In Yasuda's Platter one sees the movement that he tried to captivate in many of his works. Much of what Yasuda created crossed over the line of what gravity would allow. In Yasuda's Sprung bottom Bowls, he takes plate forms and fits them over rigs at the leather hard stage and pushes them down to create deep containers. This plate was wheel thrown, and glazed with iron oxide and copper red washes. The next piece he made during his period of illness was called the "Stoneware Server. Fairbanks was diagnosed with malignant brain tumor, which created little to no studio activity. His main focus in pottery is engaged in pots as a focus of our daily activities and rituals. Instead of purist forms, Fairbanks explored the less traveled road of rough and crusty clay bodies, which emerge, from the surface of the glaze. The creativity, ingeniousness, and capacity of knowledge that these men display helps identify who they are and what they stand for as artists. This can probably be indirectly associated with Fairbanks illness and how he was feeling at the time. In the end Fairbanks demonstrated, trough his pieces, the p [positive and negative approaches that he was exposed to during his years. Richard Fairbanks and Takeshi Yasuda are very different in nature, but I find each of their works visually and aesthetically compelling. He was impressed with its "optimistic and visually liberating appearance.
Common topics in this essay:
Stoneware Vase*,
Takeshi Yasuda,
Staffordshire Creamware,
Platter Handles,
Stoneware Vase,
Stoneware Server,
Asian-inspired American,
Fairbanks Fairbanks,
Fairbanks Takeshi,
Yasuda's Sprung,
wheel thrown,
takeshi yasuda,
hands clay,
richard fairbanks,
called stoneware,
heart plate,
ancient pre-historic,
stoneware server,
sprung bottom,
fairbanks takeshi,
|
Acceptance Essays
