Barry Rosenblatt
Biography
Barry Rosenblatt has been a ceramic artist for 65 years. He took his first wheel thrown ceramics class at Santa Monica City College in 1962. Then, he graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Art, where he specialized in bronze casting, welded sculpture, and oil painting.
After marriage, he moved to Mendocino and joined the Mendocino Art Center.
Barry writes: I purchased my first kick-wheel from a professional potter, set it up on a promontory overlooking the rural Northern California coast. In Los Angeles, the wheel was on our upstairs apartment patio, then in the backyard of our home. Eventually, I replaced the kick wheel with an electric Whisper wheel.
A fellow student established his own private studio for students, with complete firing and glazing equipment. This is where I do all my firing and glazing.
For the past 25 years, I have created and sold Kiddush cups and Shabbat candle stick sets to Temple Beth Am, which are given out as Bar and Bat Mitzvah gifts. I also sell my work on a one-to-one basis.
A Note on His Technique
I have been glazing my ceramic art more than 60 years. I almost never brush on glaze; instead, I pour and drip. I find it very sensual and intimate to cradle the piece over a bucket and pour the glaze, as I aim to cover a particular area. Then, I refill the pouring container, change my cradling position, and pour the next area. I often pour one color towards the bottom 1/3 to ½; and a coordinating glaze for the top area.
I also use a drip technique to glaze: using a squeeze ball with pointed exit, I cradle the piece, while slowly rotating it and squeeze the glaze out, aiming at the top of the piece. I make multiple drip patterns with one color, then follow with drip patterns of another overlapping or coordinating color. All this is done on the surface of a poured glaze, which adds depth.
Note on the construction method of my undulating tower-shaped vases and sculptures: slabs of clay are rolled out to ¼” thick, and 3”-4” wide, then stood up vertically in a tall ring. Then subsequent slabs are cut and stacked on top, so that the overall shape fans out or in to create the image of bending. Before adding a slab, the surfaces are scratched; then clay slip is applied as a kind of glue. Often, I will slice out a piece and bring the wall in tighter, or slice open an area and add a triangular slab to bring the shape out further.
Contact Us
Interested in purchasing a custom piece of Barryware Ceramics?
Send us a message and we will work with you to create a custom piece of ceramic ceramic art for your home.
