Talking Terra Sig | Rhonda Willers | Episode 533

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Rhonda Willers | Episode 533

Focusing on fragility and subtle strength, Rhonda Willers creates art with repetitive forms and markings reflecting on memories and nature through diverse materiality. Rhonda is the author of Terra Sigillata: Contemporary Techniques. Rhonda studied at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (BFA) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MFA). Rhonda is a studio artist, author, mother, and NCECA Board Steward located in Elk Mound, Wisconsin.

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Which is more accurate for what you work with, stoneware or earthernware?

All of them. So one of my really big intentions when I set out to write this book was to demonstrate how terra sigillata could be used at all temperatures and with all varieties of clay. So in the book there is a chapter, it’s chapter seven, called Exploring Firing Temperatures for example, and in that chapter you will see a sample set of tiles at 04 and in an electric kiln at cone 10 soda fire, cone 10 anagama fired, cone 10 noborigama fired, and cone 10 salt chamber fired in a wood kiln and there is also a porcelain example of test tiles that came out of the anagama wood kiln. Also what of the other things that I really loved about the artists in this book is that they all work at a variety of temperature ranges. I really wanted to be able to expand what I feel like is  a misconception now, that terra sig is only for low fire earhternware.

One of my impressions is that terra sig is something the artist makes not something one goes out and buys commercially.

Generally that is true. I was doing a little bit of searching to see. I think one of the suppliers in the southeast part of the country does sell some pre-made om4. It is kind of on my back mental list if I am being honest, of thinking about making my colors that I know how to make or make other colors and sell them because that is also another gap in our field that I have noticed. Some of it could be is that is a little time consuming to get it made, maybe that is why it hasn’t been done or maybe people didn’t think there was enough demand for it from the market. I kind of hope that that demand changes because of this book to be honest, because more people will think this is a possibility.

So if I understand correctly, you start out with a base blend or recipe and then you go in and add your color. Are you adding under-glazes or are you adding pigments or are you going out harvesting your own wild colors or minerals?

You could do all of the above, honestly. Let’s start with the beginning part. You start with what is called a base terra sigallata and that can be made from a single source of clay, so om4 ball clay is one that people know across the industry, or cedar hearts red art  is another really common base. You mix those up and you start with that and we could take the om4 on its own and add the colorants to that base and get a whole beautiful  monochromatic range of colors. So cobalt carbonate is one I use as an example in the book because blue is really lovely to see and it is great to see across temperature ranges and across scale of color. You could also take both that red art and the om4 base sigs and blend them together. You take a half a cup of each and mix them together and that is a new color. You could also add cobalt to the blended base. That blended base is going to produce a whole different set of blues than the om4 base produced all on its own with the cobalt. So there is this beautiful sort of rain drop of colors that can come down out of any mixture that you want to make. You can also dig some local clays. I am a really big proponent of this because a lot of time when you dig a local clay it is not very workable but you  like the color, so what you can do is take that wild clay or that local clay and process it into its own terra sigallata and there you get the joy of the color of that wild clay but you don’t have to deal with the lack of work-ability of that wild clay.

Is it better to be a dipper, a sprayer, or a painter?

Good question. All three are great. (I make this sound like the best thing since, I don’t know what, apple pie.) but you can do any and all. Brushing works really well if you have a form that you can hold in your hand or that you can flip easily, that’s a great way to work with it. It will retain some brush marks if you are working with a stiff bristle brush. So you want to be mindful of what kind of brush you are working with. You can also dip quickly if the form is sturdy enough and you can hold on to it well enough. Keep in mind that terra sigillata is applied before the bisque firing, so you have to be mindful of over saturation and the piece falling apart. Which I think is why a lot of people avoid working with terra sigillata to some extend they are worried their piece is just going to disintegrate. Spraying, if you have access to a sprayer is a beautiful way to apply the sig. Spraying is great if you want to apply gradient layers or multiply layers.  With spraying you have to be careful that you don’t spray too quickly or else the sig just drips down and those drip marks stay. So there are some cautions in each form of application, but it can be applied any way.

Is layering kind of the way to go with terra sig?

It is my way to go. I don’t think it is the way to go. I am just really interested in, I love painting as well, acrylics is primarily where I worked with some watercolors. I like the idea of taking techniques from over there and bringing them over to the application process of ceramics and so for there is a lot of things that I try in painting that I bring over and want to see if I can do it with sig too. Something else you can do, kind of about the idea of layering application, you can layer one sig, let it dry, layer another sig on top and you can gently carve through the top layer of it and the underneath layer of it will come through. So you could use a pin tool or some other fine carving tool and get very delicate lines of imagery coming through.

What creates the waxy surface?

It is the alignment of the clay particles. As you do what is called burnishing, and traditionally this would be done with a very smooth stone, you could also do it with a soft plastic bag, people talk about dry cleaners bags, ironically as being the preferred plastic, you can use your hands. As you rub you ar aligning those particles tighter and tighter and then that brings the sheen up or the waxiness. Some base terra sigs will create a higher sheen than others just by the nature of their particles.

Your book is titled Terra Sigillata contemporary techniques. What is contemporary about this?

It would be the way the artists are working with it. So in historical times terra sigillata would have been applied just as a single surface and then pit fired. That was the way it was processed. Now people are adding colorants to it, they are firing it in all of the different kilns, actually this is something I didn’t mention, another way you can color a terra sigillata is by adding in an under-glaze in a small amount and that can be a way that you can bring color into the terra sig in its wet form and that i something that is new and alternative. Even the fact that people are layering terra sigillata on top of glazes, that is a new contemporary technique. So basically it has really just moved beyond the pit fire to an extent. People still pit fire with it but that is not the only thing you can do. That is where the contemporary part comes in.

Terra Sigillata by Rhonda Willers

Book

Upstream by Mary Oliver

 

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

Contact

rhondawillers.com

Instagram: @r_willers