Martz Memories by
Bulletin boards Throwing large plates
It never gave him enough satisfaction to
know his students only became good potters.
True, many became skilled in their craft, but for Karl Martz,
demonstrated skill was not enough. The
master wanted his students to share their knowledge with others, and to share
it repeatedly. Since he taught by
example, students were shown how to share what they had learned in several
ways.
Karl’s articles and comments in crafts
magazines were frequent. We were aware
of his exhibits in art shows around the country, for we watched him as he
packed and crated pots. We were expected
to pack pots with care. We saw our
teacher had various ways to ship them, for some of his pots were sent abroad.
In 1953, a new publication appeared. It was called Ceramics Monthly, and the
editors published several articles by Karl.
Other magazines and journals had already used his writings and comments.
To encourage his students to write for publication, our master kept a special
space on his bulletin board which he called the “Hall of Fame.” Whenever he saw one of his students had an
article related to ceramics in print, he pinned a copy of the publication to
that reserved section for class students to note. The student who wrote, enjoyed knowing his
article received days of honor in the “Hall”. During the 1970’s I wrote several
articles for C.M. and I’m sure the writings received their turn on the bulletin
board.
Not only did writers have their efforts
recognized in the “Hall of Fame” which was placed for all who passed by to see,
but Karl also kept on display a “roster of students whose work has been
accepted for exhibitions – state, regional, national, invitational – especially
prize winners”. Class students consulted
the bulletin board frequently, because it also displayed exhibition
announcements, important new products, and job openings. This practice of recognition became another
part of his teaching.
You might wonder how it would be possible
for me to find enough subjects to write ceramic articles about, but already
Karl had taught me ways to solve problems, and I developed a system for solving
them. First I looked for places in
ceramic production where potters were having problems. Then, if I solved the problem, I wrote an
article of explanation. The system
worked well for me. Karl knew what I was
doing, and drew my attention to existing trouble spots.
One serious throwing need existed. Not one of us seemed able to find a
solution.
Most graduate students wanted to throw and
display large plates. Karl encouraged
mastery of this skill area and offered a “points” reward for those who were
successful. We all needed thirty or more
points at end of semester, and we would be awarded one point for a successful
twelve inch plate, and an extra point for each inch beyond twelve. The challenge had attractive rewards, and it
caught my attention, but none of us wished to go through the process of
repeating other people’s mistakes. We
were told how far some students had gone towards success. Skilled students could get the clay
wheel-thrown to plate size, say fifteen inches in diameter. This allowed for shaping and subsequent
shrinkage. However, more steps were
necessary.
One had to (1) get
the plate off the throwing bat, (2) dried to leather-hard, and (3) flipped
over, so as to be able to (4) groove the foot rings. Then the leather-hard plate would be (5)
decorated. In my case, decoration often
involved surface carving, mishima, slip painting, sgraffito, or those that used
Wax resist. I enjoyed the practice of
free-hand painting a plate design on a base glaze with tin chloride, but I used
most of the glaze decoration methods.
With all decoration finished, the plate would be completely dried, and
made ready for (6) bisque firing.
Nobody expected problems with the (7) glaze firing.
The list of danger zones seemed formidable,
but one-by-one I solved them. Yes, I
wrote an article for Ceramics Monthly, called “Throwing the Large Plate”. It was published in the September, 1971
issue. The article used six photographs
of throwing procedures, and concluded with a photo showing me standing
alongside four of my twenty-inch finished plates. Karl placed a copy of the article in his
“Hall of Fame” as recognition of my work.
He knew he had taught me well.