Clay Bodies go to Tea

Artist Statement

In “Clay Bodies go to Tea,” a collection of tea cups explores the connection between the chemical structure of clay and the physical properties that enable its formability. What is clay? Depending on who you ask—a ceramicist, a geochemist, a sedimentologist, or an average Joe—you might get a different answer. To a geochemist, clay describes a group of sheet silicate minerals that have repeating layers that define their chemical structure. Sheets can be tetrahedral layers (a.k.a. “T” layers) containing SiO4 and AlO4, or octahedral layers (a.k.a. “O” layers) containing Al3+, Mg2+, or Fe2+. These tetrahedral and octahedral layers stack in different ways for different minerals. In ceramics, the clay most often used is made up of the mineral kaolinite Al2Si2O5(OH)4. This is the case in “Clay Bodies go to Tea.” B-Mix is the chosen clay and contains kaolinite. In kaolinite or kandite clays, composition and structure do not significantly vary between members, and the clay is made out of repeating T- and O- layers. The forms of the tea cups before you are inspired by the T and O structures of kaolinite, where octahedral layers are represented by cylindrical cups and tetrahedral layers are represented by angular cups.

The process of creating “Clay Bodies go to Tea” was not without challenge and there was some irony in the process. The TO cups are fairly small and thin, and have thin handles attached to them. The thinner the clay, the faster it dries as absorbed water evaporates. If clay dries unevenly, it will crack. Therefore, successfully producing the set of cups, such that their cylinders and handles dried at the same rate, required an iterative process and intentional time management. Earth tones were selected for each of the pieces to resemble the color of natural clay minerals. Collaboration, practice, and iteration in the creative process led to the final color choices on display.

In many ways, learning about the geology of clay and learning to wheel-throw concurrently prompted new insights into the creative process. The piece celebrates the importance of TO structures to the process of making ceramics. Kaolinite is used in ceramics because it absorbs some, but not an exorbitant amount of, water (unlike other clay structures). Repeating “TO” layers give kaolinite a charged surface that adsorbs water molecules via electrostatic attraction. Additionally, kaolinite contains structural water (OH) in its O layer. This charged attraction to water gives the clay its “stickiness” and plasticity which allows it to be formed by ceramicists. Then, during firing, the kaolinite clay is dehydrated, dehydroxylated, and converted to a mixture of cristobalite, mullite, and other phases where it becomes a stronger and more rigid form.