The Figure In Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Techniques By Master Artists (A Lark Ceramics Book) [ハードカバー]

Has Lark ever published a `bad' ceramics book? I purchased The Figure in Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Techniques by Master Artists sight unseen and was not disappointed. This is simply the latest in a long list of wonderful Lark ceramics books that inform, delight and inspire potters and sculptors. For any potter interested in exploring figurative sculpture this book is a must. But this is NOT a beginners book. There is not a word of explanation about greenware, bisqueware, cones, or the purchasing and operating of equipment such as kilns or all of the hundreds of other details that you need to know to use this book successfully.

Clay is both a very forgiving and very demanding medium and these artists make it look deceptively simple. You are not ready for this book until you have had your projects crack, stick to the shelf or explode in your kiln and believe me they will. If you are new to pottery and clay I suggest that you first purchase a different lark book, Making Ceramic Sculpture: Techniques * Projects * Inspirations by Raul Acero. Work through these projects, learn the techniques introduced by Raul and then you will be ready to tackle the more advanced projects introduced in The Figure in Clay.

Nine artist are featured in The Figure in Clay. All use a wide variety of what should be familiar techniques: coiling, pinching, slab, casting, and molds - alone or in combinations to create some of the best modern ceramic sculpture being produced today. Each of the featured artist writes an introductory essay explaining their philosophy, work and techniques. This is followed by a detailed step-by-step project that illustrates in pictures and text a typical project. Each starts with the concept through to the finished project. Finally there is a gallery of work by other figurative artists suggest by the featured artist. Putting nine master artists together provides a feast of information, inspiration and ideas that makes you anxious to get into the studio to begin to explore. I am sure The Figure in Clay will provide a source that you will mine repeatedly for years to come.

Finally I would also suggest that you purchase an earlier Lark book The Penland Book of Ceramics: Masterclasses in Ceramic Techniques. This book is also written for the more experienced potter-sculptors and is not entirely about sculpture. It follows the same format as The Figure in Clay. I find myself consistently gleaming new ideas as I have repeatedly returned to the various artists. All three books are must haves in the library of every serious potter-sculptor and are highly recommended.

I recently purchased this book, and it has been a source of great inspiration to me. I began sculpting a human figure, something I thought not possible for me to do. I have been a student in a Pottery class for the past 4 years and my teacher Moira Beale is a master potter (she has been in ceramics for 25 years). She said she didn't think it would be possible to sculpt in clay a figure without using the traditional armature method. However, following the instructions in this book I have begun a scuplture without armature, it is now ready for bisque firing and I am so excited.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in sculpting the figure. The step by step photos and descriptions of different artists' methods are clear and provide a nice range of different approaches to sculpting the figure. Only drawback is that most if not all the artists are using low-fire clay. It would have been nice to have some examples of artists sculpting in high fire--a much less forgiving process.