Isaac Button

March 15, 2009

IT has been way too long since I have updated. As of late, everything for me has been going good but I just can't seem to find the drive to update this blogger. I really want to at times, and wake up saying "this is it." Then I go to work, have a crap day, come home, eat and pass out. So, today is different. Today I am actually following through. I hope to do several blogs today or within the next week; There's a few things I've been waiting on posting.

First and foremost I just want to say that an actual update on my work as of this semester is overdue and it is one of the topics I wish to cover in an upcoming blog. This blog on the other hand, I want to relate to something I've told my peers about and haven't had time to post.

Isaac Button.

Probably never heard of the guy, have you? Well, don't be surprised- there isn't much information out there on this man. Who was he? One of England's most/least known country potters. What do I mean by Country Potter? Isaac and his pottery produced ceramic ware for the home, kitchen, and for production ware. Back in those times, there was no readily available glass containers, plastics, or metal containers. The cheapest to purchase, was ceramics. Because of this- many people considered them disposables and were not used past the first few times.

Isaac's Pottery was located near Halifax, near Soil Hill. The pottery, also named Soil Hill. Having been in operation since the 1700's, Isaac acquired the pottery a bit before the turn of the 20th century. It was open up until 1965 when bad health made him retire, and he ultimately passed away in 1969. He ran that pottery alone, for 18 years following WWII, which I consider amazing. He had a full staff of 13 workers and potters before the war, afterwards he was pressed to find anyone who could put in a decent days work.

And each day he would show up to work, bright and early, proceed to go dig up the topsoil, behind the shop, to reveal local clay bodies. He would then harvest the clay in wheelbarrows that would be transported to a large industrial blender. Here, the clay was blended with water to produce a thick slurry that would be sifted through a mesh screen and flow into a trench that would fill a basin adjacent to the kiln. The residual heat produced from the large kiln inside the pottery would quickly dry the clay so within a few hours he was able to harvest hundreds of pounds of fresh clay. After this step, he would pug the clay once to remove all air. The clay then would sit and "sour" for a month or two before pugging again right before being used. After a long day he would wind down by visiting the local pub, which he was rumored to have never left the day he entered.

This man was an unknown legend and thought nothing of his skill beyond being a simple craftsman. Potters like this, I want to try and feel a connection with. It burdens me that these people, quite possibly, never knew their true importance or respect they deserved. Isaac did phenominal work and has skill I've rarely seen matched.

When Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada came to England and helped start the modern ceramic studio practices, they seeked out Button to ask him how much grog he used in his clay for large forms. His simple response, "I have enough trouble gettin' t' bloody stuff out wi'out puttin' it in."

I also forgot to mention this man religiously smoked his pipe from sun up to sun down and threw with a collared buttoned up shirt and tie. How many people can do that and still feel comfortable? I'd imagine not many. :)

I hope you are all as impressed as I am. Here are the videos I've been talking about. Running time is about 41 minutes.







Sources: http://www.youtube.com/user/Flush2wice, Grits in the Gears.
Big thank you to these two for sharing this information on the internet.

Overdue Update

Hello everybody, I'm terribly sorry for the long pause in updating. It's not like I have many readers, but I did say I would try and update more regularly and I let myself down on that one.

But, just because I haven't made any posts lately doesn't mean I have been slacking! I have actually been pretty busy as of late. I'll try to explain everything that's gone on.

In early November, my ceramic class and professor made a trip to Houston to check out a few galleries and to swing by The Ceramic Store Houston. We were able to stop by 18 Hands Gallery on 19th St. as well as the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts. At the HCCC there was an exhibit over Warren McKenzie (pictured above), who is an American potter who studied under Bernard Leach for three years. Bernard Leach is Simon Leach's grandfather and was a contemporary of Shoji Hamada. All of these people I highly look up to for their aesthetics and abilities. What they have accomplished in the ceramic world is amazing in my eyes and it was amazing to see so much of Warren's material in one spot. Also on this trip I was able to pick up some tools for my wheel here at the house, so the trip was great all around. I also got to see one of my best friends, Jodi, who had just gotten out of adominal surgery. It was a hoot traversing the medical district, but I was glad to see her and know she was ok.

During our stop at the 18 Hands Gallery, I met Kathy Blossom who is Volunteer Chair for Clay Houston, and was offered an opportunity to volunteer at Clay Houston's Clay Festival. My professor, Linnis Blanton, was participating in the festival as an exhibitor so I felt it would be benfitial to show up and help anyway I could. A friend of mine, Chelsy, accompanied me to Houston on the 7th where we volunteered mostly at the kids table. The festival was pretty nice, a lot of great work and very nice people. I was able to meet Lotus, a Houston clay artist, who has a great way of working. Her pieces generally are biker-esque, much like bandannas twills worked in with skulls and metallic studs. I really enjoyed the trip, working with kids has always been a joy of mine. I wouldn't want to do it for a living, but seeing them happy is great. There were a few kids who had been coming for a few years to the festival, which I thought was awesome. I had never heard of Clay Houston until this past year personally.

The next big thing to happen was our ceramic class critique that left me rather depressed. I was largely unhappy with what I had produced over this past semester. I had all intentions of working on craft and trying to graduate this upcoming spring semester. My professor and my thesis committee chair agreed that I was far from ready and that a lot of work needed to be done before I could graduate. Huge shot to my ego, but I sucked it up and believe it will be a good thing. To the right is me with some of the things I threw this past semester. The one jug I was really proud of is cut off on the right hand side, but you can get the jest. All of my mugs were way to heavy and most had extruded handles. I have been working hard on getting good forms and sizes down, as well as pulling my own handles. A lot of the items from this past semester I've already given away as gifts to family, big step for me. You can see more pictures from my classes critique at my friend Jodi's blog, All Is Truth.

After the critique, the next big thing was our class show Fire and Ice at The Ice House Museum in Silsbee, Texas. It was a very nice show, looked great. I was a little let down that out of the 5 pieces I submitted, only 4 were accepted. The one piece that was left out, I felt was one of my best items and would have easily sold. When I got there, all my name tags were out for the pieces, but that last piece wasn't there and my professor told me "Well it must not have made it in the show." To top that off, my aunt showed up and told me she'd like to purchase a piece of mine. I told her not to as in I would just give it to her after the show. She disregarded what I said and bought two of my 4 pieces in the show and THEN proceed to take them home with her, on the day of the opening. So for the duration of this show, I've had two pieces in it. The least amount of pieces of anyone now. Another shot to my ego, but this whole semester has been hectic. Dropping thesis, hurricanes, medical issues, etc. One thing after another.

As for what I have been doing lately... well... I'm going to reserve that for another post. I have pictures and a good bit to talk about. So, I swear to it- I'll get that update sooner than later. Hopefully today or tomorrow, no promises ;)