be potters

October 2003 Volume 39 Number 9

NEWSLETTER

Linda Christianson
Presenter al the Canadian Clay Symposium 2004

The pots we use in our home are like stage sets. At rest on a table, dish drainer, or in a cupboard,
they are visually engaging. Through use they provide access fo ofher activities; gathering food from
the garden, cooking, conversation, dining, arrangement of flowers, sorting of papers. This daily
relationship with the pots offers up both utility and continual visual inguiry. Linda Christianson

Living and working in an
1860s farmhouse in rural
Minnesota,Linda
Christianson makes func-
tonal pots, which are fired
inatwo-chamber wood/salt
kiln. Limiting herself to a
few basic forms — plates,
- Vases, CUPS, SALICCTS, jugs and
teapots — Christianson works in a narrow range of
] shapes that specifically interest her, She employs an
understated, but eloquent language of subdued col-
ours and minimalist decoration, much of which
happens within the kiln. “I’m interested in a slip that
Will misbehave mn the kiln, but still leaves me with
an educated guess ws to bow it will look,” she
explains.

Most picoes are glazed on the inside only, with a
light clay slip applied to the outside. The slip reacts
with the wood ash from fining and often salt is
thrown into the kiln to vaporize and lightly ‘sweeten’
the surface. The loading of the kiln becomes imegral
to the success of the final pieces,

zee Christianson on pare Jf