Photos and text by Robert Kokenyesi, Ceramic Artist, Beachfront Pottery, Godfrey, IL 62035, USA

The Idea

Deep Sea Scrolls is a series of sculptural pieces I’ve been developing in the past two years.  The inspiration behind the series is the following.  The Dead Sea scrolls represented a very much unexpected discovery, but those scrolls yielded incredible insight into the books of the Bible.  Is it possible that the oceans have their “scrolls” with mind blowing information about the oceans themselves?  My Deep Sea scrolls are the depictions of such insightful scrolls.

The Effort and the Resulting Pieces

While I have made several Deep Sea Scroll pieces, in the first three of them there was a combination of ceramics and glass. The I wanted to try to give the sense of age and weathering, I started experimenting with multiple firings of crystalline glazes.  I ended up using more and more a 2:1 mix of White Cascade and Molten Rock (both from Mayco).  On white stoneware bisque thee glaze was fired at cone 04.

 

 

This Deep Sea Scroll piece started as a thin sheet of clay.  I tore at the edges by pulling away the clay to create sharp, jagged edges.  The mottled glazing pattern gives agood aged appearance.  However, on the surface of the piece, perhaps most visible on the third picture, you can see small bumps.  Those bumps are from dry clay morsels/chunks.  I pushed those chinks into the clay sheet before rolling it up into a scroll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Deep Sea Scroll piece was made from a thicker sheet of clay.  Here I used larger chunks of dry clay, and pushed it into the still wet sheet of clay. The glaze and glaze firing was the same as above.  I liked the rougher surface texture.