At the Land, he saw Karen Karnes, a ceramist, at work at a kick wheel, and her artistry and movement inspired him to take up the craft.
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In the early days of porcelain making in Japan, the Kyoto, Seto, and Nagoya areas used only the handwheel; elsewhere, in the Kutani area and in Arita, the kick wheel was employed. The Japanese-style kick wheel or ke-rokuro was probably invented in China during the early Ming dynasty. Its design is similar in many respects to that of the handwheel, or it may have a wooden tip set in the top, and an iron pipe, like later wheels. The kick wheel is always turned in a counterclockwise direction, and the inevitable motion of the potter's body as he kicks the wheel while throwing gives many Japanese pots that casual lack of symmetry which appeals to contemporary Western taste.
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For anything other than small pots, potters use a kick wheel on which to throw their wares, which they decorate typically with hakeme and tobiganna slipware decoration techniques. In April 1995, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the designation of Onta Pottery as an "Important Intangible Cultural Property" in 1995.Moeran, Brian. The Journal of Modern Craft, Volume 1, Number 1, March 2008, pp. 35–54(20).
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Collage artist Jean Varda and sculptor Claire Falkenstein also taught at Pond Farm once per week. In these demanding workshops, focused on using the Bauhaus-style kick wheel, students created hundreds of ceramic forms such as flower pots, bowls, pitchers, cups, and tea pots. During the workshops, the students focused on the mastery of process rather than the glazing and firing of wares. During breaks, students and teachers discussed topics such as nature and music, philosophy, leaf structure, and bookkeeping.
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Taken as a whole, Bunzlauer ware ranks among the most important folk pottery traditions in Europe. The area around Bunzlau is rich in clays suited to the potter's wheel. Typically, utilitarian Bunzlauer pottery was turned on a kick wheel, dried leather-hard, dipped in a slip glaze and then burnt in a rectangular, cross-draft kiln. Although fired at temperatures of up to and often classified as stoneware, the clay actually does not vitrify and Bunzlauer pottery is better categorized as high-fired earthenware.
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May Day: story-telling, decorated houses, the Green Man and the Hobby horse. 17th century Kiln firing: The Master Potter loads up and fires the 17th century pottery kiln. This kiln is the only working 17th century replica kiln in existence, and all the pottery that will be in the kiln has been made in the 17th century potter's work shop using a kick wheel turn table. Craft Day: A day where leather workers, walking stick makers, potters, blacksmiths, weavers, woodworkers, quilters work in the village.
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Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, a student of Dr. Wagener went to Germany to learn how to build a downdraft kiln, and observed many wheels operated by belts on pulleys from a single shaft. On his return he set up a similar system in the Seto area, using one man to turn the flywheel that drove the shaft and the pulley system. From this beginning the two-man wheel developed. Today, most potters in Kyoto use electric wheels, though there are many studios that still have a handwheel and a kick wheel.
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Classic potter's kick-wheel in Erfurt, Germany In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming the excess body from dried ware, and for applying incised decoration or rings of colour. Use of the potter's wheel became widespread throughout the Old World but was unknown in the Pre-Columbian New World, where pottery was handmade by methods that included coiling and beating. A potter's wheel may occasionally be referred to as a "potter's lathe".
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Blaisdell Hall is Pitt-Bradford's fine arts and communication arts building and is home to the broadcast communications, public relations, interdisciplinary arts, theater and music programs. The building features all- digital television and radio studios, a 500-seat theater, art studios, a music rehearsal hall, cutting-edge lighting and sound booths, music theory and technology studios, classrooms, and conference rooms. The building is also home to the KOA Art Gallery, which hosts various exhibitions of traditional and new genre arts. The Ceramics Studio houses all of the equipment needed to create ceramic masterpieces, including 16 motorized pottery wheels, a manual kick wheel, a work table and a kiln.
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The wheel head was a large, thick, circular piece of wood with shallow holes on the upper surface around the periphery of the disc. The potter kept the wheel in motion by inserting a wooden handle into one of the holes and revolving the wheel head on its shaft until the desired speed was reached. The handwheel is always turned clockwise, and the weight of the large wheel head induces it, after starting, to revolve rapidly for a long period of time. Pieces made on the handwheel have a high degree of accuracy and symmetry because there is no movement of the potter's body while throwing, as is the case with the kick wheel.
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