Paul Soldner
A ceramic artist I would like to introduce in this researcher paper is called Paul Soldner. The first time I heard this artist’s name was from my ceramic class. After doing some research from library and internet, I have known more about Mr. Soldner and have started to respect him so much. I picked Mr. Soldner as my topic because I was attractive by his success in ceramic.
Paul Soldner was born in Summerfield, Illinois on April 24, 1921. The interesting thing for him is he did not consider a career in art when was still young. He serviced as a medic during the World War II. After he came back from the war, he found that he was interest in art. Therefore, He earned a bachelor’s degree in Art Education at Bluffton College in Ohio, and a master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Since he was introduced to ceramic by Katie Horseman, he wanted to be a potter. He studied with Peter Voulkos’s in Los Angeles County Art Institute. After graduation, he taught at Scripps and the Claremont Graduate School. At that time, he was an active artist in pottery world.
Paul soldner has been creating many changes in the field of ceramic art when he was still studying with Voulkos at the Otis Institute. He has made a series of major changes and small revolution in ceramic techniques and methods. He was known as the father of American Raku. “Raku, which was developed by the Japanese in the 16th century, is a quick firing method.”(Gus Morcate ) American Raku was developed after Soldner finished a lot of experiments. At the beginning, he produced mainly tea bowls, but soon found these restrictive and somewhat academic, as there was no tea ceremony in Western culture that could give the forms their traditional significance. He gradually discovered the American style Raku. This American method of glaze firing Raku ware differs from the Japanese method in that after the red-hot piece is removed from the kiln,...