209. Andrew Sartorius, Caldera Series, no 2

209. Andrew Sartorius, Caldera Series, no 2, 2023

For Sartorius, see item 143.

From the artist’s statement: “This new series of sculptural vessels explores shape and form allowing each sculpture to emerge through my coiling and carving process of hand building. Each form culminates with a caldera to catch pooling ash from the firing. This flow of ash to pool around the base of the caldera cradles a world of glaze crystalline effects that I found thrilling and wanted to explore further. The sculptures reveal themselves to me in shifting from and merging and meeting lines that lend themselves to focusing on kiln placement and the interaction between clay choice and kiln effect.” 

North Carolina stoneware clay with small chips of feldspar “to create the dramatic white inclusions in the warm dark clay body.” Fly ash glazing resulting in colors in the black, gray, russet, and brown range. The vitrified ash in the caldera is a dark green-black color. The front, base, back, and right side have a luster glazing from the melted ash.  Weight: 818 g (1.8 lb). Length: 13 cm (5-1/8 in). Width: 10.1 cm (4 in). Height: 10.3 cm (4-1/4 in). 

This is ovate in shape. This sits on the oval base, which is 7 x 5.3 cm (2-3/4 x 2-1/8 in) at the widest points. The base is a shallow concavity. The sides are one continuous piece; they are shaped in a convex arc, with the widest point roughly in the middle of the piece. The front (shown in the first two pictures) has a vertical groove sloping from left to right, about a third in from the left-hand side. The artist’s mark is impressed into the body at the left-hand side of the front face, just above the base.  The top is highest on the right side. It is shaped into a concavity with a flat bottom (the “caldera”). The opening is toward the left side and measures 2 cm (3/4 in) in diameter. The edge where the sides and top meet is quite sharp. The texture is smooth under the vitrified ash deposit and rougher on the parts less impacted by ash deposits. 

This was fired in an anagama over a two-day period. The front and the back have streams of ash glaze. The heavier deposits of the glaze vitrified nicely in the areas noted above.  The pooling in the caldera is especially impressive and results from the shaping of the piece at this point and its placement in the kiln.

An exciting development of this artist’s skills. 

Purchased from the artist in April 2023.