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Sounding
Clay
by Brian Ransom
from Ceramics Monthly October 1988
pgs.
30-33
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"A Nest of Hooters"
Glazed
earthenware, 3 feet in height, multichambered instrument
for duets.
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great beauty of ceramics is that one can bring so much to it. My
best claywork has had more to do with anthropology, ethnography,
the physics of sound, and music, than with the traditionally functional
precepts of the medium. Now a long series of discoveries and departures
from traditional ceramics finally have led me back to claywork based
on functional elements. |
There
was a time when I felt required to choose between being a visual
artist or a musician. During the winter of 1973, l was enrolled
at the Rhode Island School of Design. Waking late one morning because
I had played late into the night with a.jazz quintet, I swore never
again to com- promise my ability to perform well in an 8 A.M. sculpture
class.
I
felt unable to fully develop as a visual artist if I didn't put
a hold on my musical aspirations. During the next 24 hours, my flugelhorn
sat quietly in its case, as though chastised by this resolution.
I gave up and returned to a schizophrenic late night/early morning
schedule, hut shortly thereafter began making flutes in ceramic
class.
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"Triformation
XV"
3
feet in height, low-fire-salt whistling water vessel (it
sounds when it tips)
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From
the beginning, there were obvious limitations in making clay musical
instruments. The shift in pitch, which occurs as the day dries and
consequently shrinks, was a problem that has taken years to solve.
This is com- pounded when many instruments, with various types of
sound-producing mechanisms, are made to be played in time with one
another.
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But
the timbre of clay, its characteristic sound, is what held me .spellbound
from the start. The very, hollow and haunting sound that clay produces
took me by surprise when I first played those day flutes. They seemed
to possess the ability" to transform the listener into a subconsciously
vulnerable state. I became intrigued with the physiological aspects
of sound--its ability' to create overwhelming moods, to heal, to
energize. Turning to ethnographic research on music, I studied cultures
that use sound in ways which were, in the be- ginning, unthinkable
to me.
While
experimenting with making objects producing more specialized sounds,
I learned to tune with increasing accuracy until gaining control
of microtonal pitches (tones that lie closer together than semitones,
which are the smallest intervals in our western, 12-to- the-octave
musical .system). I often used traditional instruments as models,
or starting points. As I made more of these instruments, they began
to change and improve to suit aesthetic needs.
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During
the next ten years my work was largely a product of experimentation,
with emphasis on sound.
I began to view entire sets of sound objects in environments,
or performance settings, as pieces of sculpture.
I
hold the vibration, placement and movement of these tuned
vessels to be sculptural elements within the context of performance
space. These objects, the space and viewers are susceptible
to sympathetic vibrations of sounds produced during performance.
Through the combination of these resonances, the performance
space becomes a landscape of textured sound. |
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Brian
Ransom in his Clearmont, CA studio 1988.
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Although
we don't usually think of it as being so, sound is a physical entity
which bounces against our bodies and can be used to affect space.
By creating groups of thick and thin, high and low, or loud and
soft auditor}, sensations, the physicality of sound can be used
to sculpt the entire viewing space.
Soon
I was making individual sound- producing objects which were derived
from the performance pieces, Important among these was the whistling
water vessel, a South American instrument which I had the opportunity
to study while on a Fulbright fellowship in Peru. These unusual
vessels (their precise use is not known) make sound as water moves
between chambers, displacing air and forcing it through whistles
in the top sections. As with my other instruments, I gradually departed
from traditional whistling pot designs in Favor of my own highly
abstracted forms.
I use these whistlers to form what I call "the living sound"
in performances as well.
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"Directional
Congas"
4 feet in height, earthenware,
rawhide, cotton lines, steel rings, and raffia.
Clay drums have a unique and memorable resonance
that lingers after they are struck.
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With
more ability to make specific sounds, I began to approach
making objects from a different viewpoint. Entire conceptions
of sound occurred to me and I envisioned the instruments
needed to create them. The objects were first charged with
the sensibilities given them by their audio, instead of
visual, qualities.
Taking
my lead from Michael Brewster, a friend and former teacher
at the Claremont Graduate School, I saw my work as fitting
into a fledgling art form now being discussed as "sound
sculpture." Brewster sees (or hears) the basis for
this art form as manipulation of the physical properties
of sound. Specific spaces are filled with sound waves which
bounce off walls and line up in various configurations.
When the waves peak in the same area, we sense them as resonances
which are tempered by the harmonics, overtones and peculiarities
of the walls.
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In
my work, variations of similar objects are used to produce a
densely layered sound. This layering parallels the concept of
prehistoric palimpsest drawings found in caves in France. It
is theorized that rocks and spears were thrown at the painted
images on the cave walls, presumably in hopes of capturing the
spirit of the animal. If the hunt went well, the spot (later
to be termed the "kill spot") was considered lucky,
and other drawings were done on top of the original, resulting
in an image built up layer by layer. Bits of earlier drawings
showed through from underneath. As rocks and spears chipped
the surface away, and because the drawings had a translucent
quality a final picture known as a palimpsest image was created.
It is with tiffs concept in mind that I make each piece. Concepts
are developed and other parallel ideas are continuously aimed
at the same ideological spot. Sounds are set one on top of the
other, adding and subtracting to produce an undulating sonic
form.
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"Drones"
30
inches in length, glazed earthenware pipes. |
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"Flugelhorn"
Glazed
ceramic bell and tubing with brass mouthpiece and
cannibalized valves, 18 inches in length.. |
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"Assorted
rattle"
handbuilt
earthenware with terra sigillata to 12 inches in length.
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