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Donna Morse — ceramics

The Arts Center Exhibit(s):

• "Portals" Winter Show & Silent Auction, Winter 2011

Artist's Statement, 'Ammonite' "Portals" Winter Show & Silent Auction, Winter 2011:

My first experience in clay, besides making mud pies as a kid, was at a Texas high school in the 70’s. One pottery wheel shared between 20 plus students. I didn’t return to clay until 2006 when I enrolled in a Clay class at The Benton Center in Corvallis, Oregon.  It has been my passion ever since. My instructors and the wonderful group of potters at the Benton Center Studio and the Willamette Ceramics Guild have been and will continue to be a major influence in my life. I have a small studio at home in North Corvallis.  My Raku pieces are fired in my barrel kiln that we built in 2010. I enjoy throwing on the wheel and hand-building.  My experience includes High-Firing, Soda/Salt Firing, Pit Firing and Raku Firing.

Relating to "Portals":

In the six years that I have been working with clay I have traveled through my own sort of portal. I have been making sea creatures including salmon, starfish and sea turtles for quite a while, then recently I began to study ancient sculpting as with Egyptian scarabs, this led me to the idea of fossil forms. One of the common fossils being an ammonite, I began to observe the characteristics of these creatures.

Looking at the ammonite fossil, my thoughts traveled through a portal from present to past imagining the life and movement of the creature that is now embedded in rock.

The entrance and passageway of the living ammonite's home could be considered a portal.

The repetative design appears to have fractal characteristics which could suggest a portal of infinity.

This project has allowed me to take time to think about how my project relates to the Portals theme.

More about Ammonites:

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals. Ammonites are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods. The name ammonite, from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilized shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams' horns. Pliny the Elder   (d. 79 AD. near Pompeii) called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua ("horns of Ammon") because the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing ram's horns.

Hand-building Process:

My process has been revised several times as I have worked on my prototypes.

After several attempts to create the spiral shape, I discovered that placing a template of a spiral curve to mark outer and inner section points works best.  This is easier and more precise than using a complicated spiral formula and math is not my strong point. The design does not follow any one particular species of ammonite.

I cut the spiral outline and uncurl it enough to allow for detail-work.  I then smooth the cut edges and curl it back together from the inside outward. The rough rock foundation is formed and then stamped with varies shells to give it a fossilized appearance.

I will be Raku-firing my three prototypes next.

Firing Process:

After some hard-learned lessons and going back to "Raku basics" my three ammonite prototypes were fired successfully.  When Raku firing there are many decisions to make; how much newspaper to put in the can for combustion, when to pull the pieces from the kiln, how long after the pieces ignite do you wait to put the lid on the can.  All these aspects affect the outcome of a Raku firing.

Final Chapter:

After the 4th Firing I finally got the colors I wanted in my ammonite.

Because the piece was so large, I had to do some experimenting.  I got a bigger can, tried firing with newspaper, then filled the can with sawdust to decrease the volume and finally fired in sawdust covered with a layer of aluminum foil and newspaper.  It worked!!

This has been quite the learning experience for me and well worth it.

Visit Donna Morse's website.