Ceramics ... and computers?

In the early 1980s, I was suprised to fine that most artists working with computers had backgrounds in ceramics. Because of that, I came up with parallels between working with computers and working in ceramics. Both are very process based and require a systems,, approach for successful results.

Ceramics involves many processes from preparing clay, forming it, drying, trimming, bisque firing, glaze mixing, glaze application, kiln loading and firing, and final use of the piece. Many of these processes are happening simultaneously in different parts of the studio.

Creative Connections

Both ceramics and computers involve interactive, technical/scientific and intuitive processes. Sometimes, you can see what you are doing; sometimes, the process is hidden, as on the inside of a kiln or computer. One must use science and art together to make the proper adjustments for a good firing.

Both ceramics and computers are silicon based and use complex and simple technologies. Multiprocessing or multitasking is a skill both ceramist and computer artist develop to a fine degree.

Lastly, ceramists are not intimidated by the complex technology of computers. When they regularly fire kilns to temperatures that could melt most things on earth, what's to worry about a 250-megabyte hard drive?

Clay Talk on the internet

Today, ceramists are using computers to control kilns, analyze and calculate glazes, provide graphs of kiln firing records, and as a drawing tool.

Recently, a community of ceramists have been meeting electronically on the Internet in the form of CLAYART, an on-line discussion and exchange of opinions through e-mail. In the November, 1993, issue of Ceramics Monthly, Rick Malmgren discusses "Ceramics and Electronic Communication." Malmgren writes about CLAYART and how to join it through e-mail services. He finds it a gathering place for over 200 ceramists from 16 countries. People find the give and take of electronic communication easier, more interactive and less expensive than a typical magazine subscription.

Glaze Calculation

Another popular ceramics application is glaze analysis and calculation. This area has been frustrating for many ceramics students because the calculations and the different formulation of glazes have often resulted in a confusing set of recipes.

Over nine commercial glaze programs have been developed by artists in England, New Zealand, Denmark and the US. One program is HyperGlaze IIx, developed by potter Richard Burkett of California.

When the authoring program HyperCard was developed for the Macintosh, Burkett did not eat or sleep for four days until he had taught himself scripting and had the basics of a glaze program. His wife Elizabeth, who is a graphic designer, tested the program and created a glaze that melted the first time it was fired. Some artists rely upon packaged glazes but many others like to mix their own. (Another parallel is commercial computer programs versus writing your own.)

Amazing Applications

We should not leave this subject without listing the applications of ceramic materials for society through modem technology. From the ceramic tiles of the space shuttle to the ceramic microchips in computers, there are many applications. The list includes knives and scissors that never need sharpening, automobile engines of silicon nitride that weigh 40 percent less and have better heat resistance than current motors, noncorrosive bioceramic implants to replace joints in the aged, superconductors made from esoteric ceramic compounds, and ceramic hammers that can chip concrete.

In ceramics, as in many fields, the computer will transform the way we leam and communicate with each other.

References Malmgren, Rick. "Ceramics and Electronic Communications." Ceramics Monthly (November, 1993): 96-8. -----. "More Glaze Calculation Software." Ceramics Monthly (March, 1994). Rubenstein, Leonard S. "Dancing with Technology: The Science and Art of Technology." The Studio Potter, vol. 22, no. 1(1993): 14-5.