Martz Memories by
Reasons Throwing the globe Y bowls
He practiced teaching by example, and his
whole life showed it. I don’t believe
Karl Martz consciously thought about his method. It seemed to come naturally to him, and it
was practical. For his students, the
method was a gift, and a gift that was also a blessing, for it saved us from
making many mistakes. I cannot recall
Karl ever giving the answer, “Because I said so”. He always gave a logical and reasonable answer
to us.
As his students, we often saw pottery he
made for exhibition, because if he needed them for illustration or
demonstration, he would bring to class, pots from his private collection. We learned to recognize pots that seemed to
“spring up”, and pots that seemed to “squat down”. We took note of decoration that seemed to be “too
busy” or that which had too little interest.
Of course, we tried to follow the wheel-throwing
practices of our master, but some of the skills were not always easy to
follow. One shape that was pleasant to
behold was the globe shape. When we had
seen it thrown a few times, we tried making the shape with our own hands, but
without success. We could start a pot
easily enough, but before we could get beyond half-way, the pot would begin to
slump and squat. Karl saw we needed more
than a few demonstrations. So he asked
himself, “What more can I do?”
The next day we received practical
benefits of his pondering. He realized we
had difficulty in remembering the different danger zones and the times when
they required attention, so he had gone through the sequences and noted them. Step-by-step instructions, with enough
warnings and drawings to illustrate the steps were needed. Over-night, he typed onto two “ditto” sheets,
the required directions, and then drew five profile diagrams of a globe pot to
show the different danger stages. Enough
copies were run off so each student could have an illustrated copy.
We didn’t need to
make notes while he demonstrated. We
watched and listened. Many times I followed
my dittoed instructions until I could easily throw globes. That the shape is pleasing to behold has been
confirmed. At a recent E-bay auction in
2003, one of Karl Martz’s globe shaped pots, made in 1960, sold for $2,700.
Another thrown shape that Karl liked, and
a shape we also liked to try throwing was the Y-shaped bowl. We soon learned it was not enough for us to
follow the Y angles. Angles, width of
base, height, proportions, all had to be considered. All had to function together with the glaze
and convey a sense of unity. Karl showed
us how to do this.
As he threw, he added an important touch
to the top of the Y-pot. Near the rim he
re-curved that part back toward the center.
This treatment gave the rim extra thickness. Then, with a strip of chamois leather, he
smoothed the rim itself. The throwing
part of the pot, and the throwing technique could then say, “I am finished”. We note, a blue glazed, Y-shaped bowl that
Karl threw about 1960, sold, in September, 2003, for $685. The sale seemed to say, “A Y-bowl, carefully
thrown, finished and glazed, is a joy to behold.”