Lansing Wagner
I’ve been making pots for ~ 30 years at the Harvard Ceramics Studio. Usually 6 hours a week in their amazing facility. I have done some scientific illustration and enjoy designing pots with creatures on them. Big bowls are my favorite, they are useful and provide a large canvas to draw on. This year I retired and am continuing work in my home studio in East Blue Hill.
My first love is soda firing. Introducing a sodium carbonate solution into a very hot kiln vaporizes the solution, and the sodium seeks out the silica in the clay body to form a glaze. On the way it interacts with the slips and oxides of the surface decoration. There are myriad unpredictable variables that affect the outcome of each pot. Meticulously applied surface details can be obliterated or brought to life. It’s a gamble: each piece is unique.
Because I can only soda fire a couple of times a year I have been exploring cone 6 porcelain. I Have been using blue slip on white porcelain and carving through it to draw the designs. I also use water etching to create relief drawings glazed with amber celadon.