“Ceramics is a very demanding discipline,” explains Bede Clarke, MU Professor of Art. Even after 35 years in the field, he says, “it still takes a lot out of me to do good work.” Clarke’s creative activity focuses on two areas. One involves the use of color and drawing and painting on clay with abstract and figurative imagery, and the other is wheel-thrown pottery fired in a wood kiln to achieve glaze effects.

While he also works with drawing and painting, ceramics is Clarke’s major creative area. “Ceramics is a very demanding discipline,” he says. “After 35 years, I still find it challenging, so I tend to focus on it – maybe because I find that I need to, to do something that’s any good at all. It still takes a lot out of me to do good work.” His creative activity tends to focus on two areas. One involves drawing and painting on clay with abstract and figurative imagery, and the other is wheel-thrown pottery fired in a wood kiln to achieve the desired glaze effects. Clarke moves behind the potter’s wheel to offer a demonstration on the art of throwing a pot.

“There is great clay right here in Missouri,” says Clarke. In fact, some of the richest deposits are within forty miles of Columbia. But to prepare clay like this, “it is kind of like baking,” he explains, in that you must add a variety of different ingredients—in this case, clays, colorants, and fluxes—to create a clay body. Depending on the ingredients, the clay can be given desired characteristics, for instance filler material like sand or grog can be added to give the clay “tooth and strength.” These materials are combined in different ratios, depending upon how the artist wants the clay to behave: “If you are building a large-scale, thick sculpture, you would choose a very different clay from that used to make very delicate translucent porcelain. An understanding of clay is pretty fundamental."

Once the pot has been thrown, the potter must make decisions while the clay is still wet about handles, trim, texture, or other decorations—details that can add a lot to a piece. If it is kept wrapped in plastic, the artist might have a week or two to finish it. Clarke takes a moment to consider the pot he has just finished throwing and decides that—were he to continue working on it—he would want to alter or embellish it in some way. Clarke has observed that it takes students about 12 weeks of concentrated work to get these basics. “It’s a skill, but it’s more,” Clarke explains. When he asks students how they feel when they are really “getting it,” they report that they feel "connected" to the clay.

Clarke describes how the creative work of making pots necessarily involves research. He has observed that visual artists have a close relationship to the raw materials with which they work. As an artist, Clarke explains that “pottery keeps me honest. Pottery is a very simple art form. It is very demanding in terms of detail, line, shape, and form. Maybe because it’s so simple and unassuming, it makes me focus on what I’m trying to communicate, rather than chasing the latest fad that’s going on.”