KAREN BRANCH

Colored Porcelain
Gallery: Enigma Gallery,Fayetteville, AR.
Contact Karen Branch
479-232-5860

Karen Branch and Steve Maher are fusing their talents, energy, and studios resulting in a collaboration of increased potential. Since 1989 they have created both individually and together in clay. Each established studios and built their kilns in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. After years of adamant individuality they concluded it was more fun to work together

The Neriage process they use begins with a labor-intensive task of mixing a myriad of colors using natural oxides. They then slice and stack layers of the colored porcelain to build up a specific design that runs completely through the block. A cross-sectional slice taken from this completed block is then used to form a piece of dinnerware.

After carefully cleaning each piece when bone-dry, they then airbrush a mist of wood ash glaze onto the pots before loading the kiln with greenware to be fired once. A normal firing takes around 24 hours in their specially designed kilns using both gas and wood. Steve's kiln is fueled mostly by natural gas from a well on his land-Earthfire. At 2100 degrees we add Oak strips from a local sawmill and continue to stoke for 6-10 hours or until the temperature reaches 2380 degrees or cone 10. It takes another 2 days for the kiln to cool .

"I like the kiss of the fire you get from adding wood to a reduction firing. The occasional blush in the clay color, the wood ash specks that melt into glaze on the clay body, these things bring excitement to the pots."

Karen Branch