Playing around with clay

I often wonder if artists who work with clay possess a greater tendency to embrace happy accidents than those working with other media. I’ve nothing to back up this timid assertion other than my own cursory observations, but a spot in yesterday’s Japan Times on artist Kosho Ito brought it to mind again.

The article points out that not all ceramic artists are eager to push the limits of their materials, but Ito certainly does:

For potters in Japan who work through the winter months, keeping their studios warm so that their clay doesn’t freeze is a little-known challenge of the trade. Once frozen, the composition of clay changes and it becomes essentially useless for shaping. Ito found this property fascinating, and did what any curious artist might do; he started sticking large clay blocks in the freezer and then fired them to high temperatures. The resulting earthen chunks with cracked, fissured surfaces make for superb organic eye candy and form the gritty building blocks of the colossal installation, “Fired Frozen Clay Dancing.”

It seems to me something about the firing process inherent in crafting ceramics results in artisans eager to play around outside of expectations. We put all kinds of things in kilns with our wares just to see what happens, see what kind of interesting and beautiful finishes arrive.