Recent Reductions - Tyler Brandon

Tyler Brandon’s Artist Statement -

The ecology and natural colors of Earth endlessly inspire me. These elements are visible in my early work as I began to develop my own personal aesthetic to color and form. Lichen and moss forming on the weathered sandstone and limestone of Southern Illinois are mimicked in the crystals, carbon trapping, and color I am striving for. My forms draw inspiration from historical pottery to the organic shapes seen in gourds, pumpkins, weathered rock, animals, and the human body. I notice now that the places I enjoy retreating to most are filled with those characteristics. I have been working in wheel thrown stoneware and porcelain for nearly 15 years, the past two pushing to support myself only through teaching and creating an ever-evolving body of work, completing the cycle by selling as much as possible. Each piece is treated as a spontaneous sketch and idea leading to the next, perfected through repetition and failure. I have taught, had solo shows, and created clay programs, personal studios and kilns throughout Central Illinois and Crestone, Colorado. Most recently developing a popular clay class through the Peoria Art Guild, encouraging a love for clay, science of glaze, and the art of throwing pots.

Recent Reductions is a collection of pots fired in a vintage updraft Alpine kiln, retrofitted with natural draft venturi burners, a very simple and primitive setup requiring no electricity. The kiln is fired in a reduction atmosphere to cone 10 (2300+F). Reduction is a lack of oxygen caused primarily by closing the damper. Increasing gas or closing the air intake at the burner are also ways to fine tune the amount of reduction and how the flame moves throughout the kiln. Making each firing unique depending on the pots and the stack. The resulting atmosphere chemically changes clay and glaze completely: copper's color especially in reds, flashing and carbon trapping in shino glazes, giving bare clay a richer color. Through layering glazes and thoughtful placement while loading, a cone 10 reduction firing can yield results hard to duplicate any other way. Most of the pieces in the collection were thrown and fired within the past year, many of them being within the past couple months or even weeks. I encourage repetition in my classes and always find the next pots better than the last, which is one of many reasons I love making them so much.