 |
 |
Harding Black is 78 years old. He lives alone and has for a long time He has worked seven days a week for as long as he can remember. Harding arrives at his studio at 4:00 a m each day and works until 1 00 p.m., by which time his hip is becoming too painful to continue working. The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which affects his wrists and hands, will not be operated on because his doctor feels that such an operation may result in his inability to continue making pots Harding Black is not a wealthy man but hopes to sell enough pots in the days ahead to be able to afford a comfortable retirement home if that is the direction his life takes.
“I am one of the lucky ones, one of the 10% of people in this country who are doing what they want to do with their lives “ (Harding Black 11/14/90)
There is a spirit conveyed through these words which warrants attention It is not new or unique, but rare and selective in its occurrence. That it exists within 10% of this country’s population may be too generous an estimate It is a spirit which allows for uniqueness, a requisite for the potential of accomplishing great things It is embodied in the life of Harding Black who, for the past six decades, has committed himself to a celebration of life within the ceramic medium. His is a celebration which embraces and holds sacred hard work and sweat, endless searching, and the selfless sharing of his discoveries with all interested parties He is a humble man with a spirit of heroic proportions.
The pieces presented in this exhibition draw from and reveal much about the various directions in clay Harding Black has pursued over the past sixty years. They also provide a view of Harding’s innermost workings that the printed word in incapable of capturing Throughout the exhibition there exists a unifying theme of uncompromising integrity. It is upon this foundation that Harding Black has proceeded.
The early wheel-thrown earthenware pots, finished with uranium glazes were made in the 1930’s when Harding was in the formative stages of his career- During this time he was teaching children’s ceramic classes in a streetcar behind San Antonio’s Witte Museum. Rudolf Staffel was teaching Harding to form pots on the potter’s wheel and he was vigorously pursuing and expanding on the research of Arthur Baggs and Edgar Littlefield regarding copper-red glazes. This was a period of great economic hardship throughout the United States and Harding’s previous experience as a bricklayer and electrician served him well in designing and building, from salvaged materials, the equipment needed to pursue his activities.
The vessels of the 1940’s and 1950’s mark Harding’s move from the streetcar studio to the reconstructed Ruiz House on the grounds of the Witte Museum The new facilities and enhanced financial support made possible his shift from the low temperatures of earthenware to the high temperatures required for work in stoneware and porcelain This was a pivotal point in Harding’s career as it enabled him to actively pursue his fascination with the elusive glazes of ancient China and their integration with the form of the vessel. It was a period of seemingly endless testing that sought the proper glaze components and the manner of application and firing that would successfully duplicate the magnificent glazes of China’s Sung and Ming dynasties The success of his endeavors is evident in the exquisite examples of oxblood, flambe, chun, and black oil-spotted glazes presented in this exhibition This body of work and its accompanying research became the foundation for Harding’s future endeavors, serving as a springboard in his pursuit of a more personalized union of form and surface. The pieces executed during this time exhibit a mastery of technical skills and a highly developed aesthetic sensibility. They possess a graceful and elegant marriage of line, proportion, and surface which greatly exceeds that of earlier pieces and serves as a standard for his work in the years ahead.
Each year between 1947 and 1954 examples from this body of work were included in the annual National Ccramic Exhibition at the Syracuse Museum of Art. It was also during this period that Harding Black began to publish the results of his on-going research in Ceramics Monthly.
The late 1950’s and 1960’s saw Harding Black’s retirement from teaching at the Witte Museuin and his move into the studio he built on Broadway, where he continues his work today This was a time of increased exploration of clay’s possibilities as an expressive medium. Through his association with the sculptor Mary Vance Green, Harding began to push the parameters of his previous involvements with clay, producing numerous large coil and slab-built vessels and sculptures. Although these works represent a significant shift in format from his wheel-thrown vessels, the level of articulation of form and surface and the interplay of forin and space connect them solidly to the greater body of work There exists within these pieces a celebration of nature and the creative human presence They serve as testimony to the inquisitive mind of the artist and his willingness to pursue his vision into new and unfamiliar terrain.
Harding’s fascination with the union of utilitarian form and the aesthetic potential of color has been the dominant force guiding his activities of the past two decades. His wheel-thrown stoneware and porcelain vessels echo the forms produced during the 1950’s, but exhibit increasingly vibrant color and surface depth, pushing the ancient chuns, flambes, and oxbloods onto new and fertile ground The result of years of research and testing, Harding’s recent variations and interpretations of ancient ceramic traditions succeed in fusing past and present, artist and vessel Within this body of work he has established a progressive linear tradition that spans time and continents, providing today’s young ceramic artists with a foundation on which to build an inspired future vision. His glaze library has reached staggering proportions and stands in open invitation to all who would enter.
This is an exhibition honoring the achievements to date of a remarkable individual, a man who has, throughout the course of his life, committed each day to celebration of the journey Harding Black has achieved the reputation of being one of America’s true pioneers in glaze research and technology. Examples of his work have recently been included in the permanent collection of the Everson Museum of Art and his biography has been entered into the archives of the Smithsonian Institution He will be attending, as an Honorary Member, the 1991 conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) His immense contributions to the field of the ceramic arts have been accomplished without the aid of formal academic training. It has been his ability to give free reign to his inquisitive mind and his exercising of extreme patience and persistence that have brought him to this point in his career. He is one of a rare breed of individuals who understand failure as an integral element of success. His life’s work can be seen as a gift to those who journey beyond him, a testimony to the power of celebration. —Paul A.McCoy Curator
|
|