artist and artisan of both glass and ceramics, a watercolorist and a designer,
gave the name Light Gatherers to twelve translucentporcelainpieces which he made between 1965 and 1981 in an experiment about the transmission of light.
Potting very thinly, the artist squeezed and distorted the clay on the wheel.
Some pots he hand built.
Where the wall of the pot collapsed, he would add patches and straps and decorative elements.
He stretched and folded the clay. He also scored it with striations.
The artist made his own porcelain composition to achieve the maximum translucency and was experimenting with this composition until late in life.
Sometimes he introduced mineral washes to make pale blues and greens and sometimes he introduced pigment into the clay.
The artist did not glaze his porcelain.
He said he wanted his work to contain and transmit light.
Porcelain, 1965-1985
Rudolf Staffel, 1911-2002, American. Philadelphia Museum of Art
