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The Penland Book of Ceramics: Master Classes in Ceramic Techniques (A Lark Ceramics Book)

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MASTER INSTRUCTION -
Of the eleven books on ceramics that I have purchased from Amazon so far, this is one of the best, possibly THE BEST work I have read. Based at the Penland school for crafts in the mountains of North Carolina, students come for periods of two to eight weeks for advanced instruction. Ten top ceramists, all of whom have taught master classes at Penland, display their skills in detail in both picture form and in personal candid and revealing essays. There are many many colorful photos. There is also a brief look at each artists achievements. One of the things that most impressed me about this book is the transfer of feelings the artists invoke, in that what has inspired them to produce their art. One woman writes that after seeing art work in Italy, her hands "itched" to reproduce it in clay. I know that feeling! Another said he was drawing before he was talking but after watching some students work with pottery, he was completely seduced and hopelessly in love with clay. The book is very inspiring in that way. Although I might not wish to copy some of their work, it has led me off in new directions and given me many ideas to work with. This book is definitely worth more than the price I paid, even though it was severely brutalized in the mail. It's not a beginner's book, but it's a book that every beginner should own.

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Master classes in pottery -
Fabulous book that makes me think outside of the box in relation to what clay can do.I am inspired.

Beautiful book! -

This book has it all. The photography is wonderful of the potter's pieces but so are the photo's of the potters vessel at the various stages of the process. The instructional lessons are very clear and inspiring. I certainly lost many hours of sleep thinking about their images and the processes I want to try to incorporate into my work. Loved it!

I LOVE THIS BOOK -
The only book I have ever seen with specific break downs of each artists particular piece. AMAZING. A must have!

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Another Fabulous Book From Lark -
This book shares a lot of elements with Lark's other showcase book, The Figure in Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Tehniques by Master Artists (A Lark Ceramics Book). In the latter, we have innovative artists sharing their philosophies and some methodologies; and between chapters, there are galleries with a broad spectrum of work. And so it goes with this book, with some notable differences. The range of the type of work is much greater:

There's a gal who does freeform handbuilt pottery;
there's a guy who does the funky sculpture on the cover using an extruder to make forms supported by trapped air that he then carves and assembles;
there's a gal who does huge tall work on the wheel;
another does tile work;
a guy who does textural stuff with glazes and underglazes on handbuilt ware;
another assembles sculptural ware from slip-cast shapes;
there's a figurative guy who does intricate graphics work on his pieces; and
another who forms large torso reliefs from slabs.

The working methods are presented in a more uniform step-by-step format than in the Figure in Clay, hence the Master Classes subtitle. Some artists present fairly detailed explanations; some rely more on the photos to show what's going on. Most of the artists present more simple projects than they would ordinarily produce; but there is a lot of good information for the reader all the same. The techniques in this book are generally more advancced. It's not a beginner's workbook; but it doesn't hurt to see all these neato-keen ways of working and either be inspired or sock away the knowledge for later. I would recommend this book for anyone trying to expand his or her horizons in clay.