Fine Arts by Sandra

Blue glazed interior, bare clay horsehair reduction exterior. This piece is burnished and fired for gold detail and horsehair reduction.

The horsehair Raku piece was juried into the 2013 West Moreland Museum Biannual. It is 13.5" H x 11"x11"

Bare Clay burnishing technique fired with gold and horsehair reduction. The clay body is Okeweemee made at Star Works in N.C., it is one of my favorites because of the translucent pink coloring.

Profile view of bowl.

The Okeweemee clay body is burnished and gold fired. The final firing is horsehair reduction.

. The fusion of the Indochinese and Western cultures is of great interest to me. Horsehair reduction and gold are the surface elements and the forms are derived from classical and Art Nouveau periods.

 I am drawn to the intimate and painterly approach of horsehair reduction. The color of the heat on the ware creates the canvas.  The act of painting with burning hair creates smoke and line which embeds into the layers of burnished clay.  This looks like translucent layers of line and smoke. The process demands acute awareness of specific moments in time. The temperature and color dictates the moment when the painting of line and direction of smoke is imprinted into the burnished clay.

The piece tells the story of each of those moments.  A wisp of smoke created by a hard line of horsehair reduced at a moment when the temperature of the piece is perfect. The fluidity in which my hands work, while my eyes seek clues for direction of process is instinctive.

 I am drawn to the intimate and painterly approach of horsehair reduction. The color of the heat on the ware creates the canvas.  The act of painting with burning hair creates smoke and line which embeds into the layers of burnished clay.  This looks like translucent layers of line and smoke. The process demands acute awareness of specific moments in time.

Horsehair Raku with Okeweemee clay and Standard 105.

. Horsehair reduction and gold are the surface elements and the forms are derived from classical and Art Nouveau periods.

I am drawn to the intimate and painterly approach of horsehair reduction. The highly burnished forms create the canvas.  The act of painting with horse hair is fast and fluid.  This looks like translucent layers of line and smoke. The process demands acute awareness of temperature, which dictates the moment when the painting of line and direction of smoke is imprinted into the burnished clay.

Horsehair raku

This piece juried into "The Art of the State" 2024, The Pennsylvania State Museum.