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Don
Reitz
Clay, Fire, Salt, and
Wood
Jody Clowes
Fearless improvisation and
revival in American studio ceramics
Don Reitz is recognized as one of the most important and
influential ceramic artists of this century. Trained at Alfred
University in the early 1960s, Reitz has pursued a life-long
investigation of salt and wood firing of his ceramic pieces in
order to preserve the energy and freshness of his artistic marks
and gestures. Finding that the texture and unpredictability of
salt-firing suited his work, Reitz almost single-handedly revived
this neglected technique, and through long experimentation developed
a range of colors and surface effects previously unknown in salt-firing.
Juggling and manipulating the variables in each firing, Reitz
is a virtuoso who relishes knowing what he can control and what
he cannot. His work maintains a fine balance between technical
mastery and improvisation. The Elvehjem Museum of Art retrospective
features some seventy-four ceramic works that Reitz created between
1960 and the present.
Don Reitz
taught in the University of Wisconsin–Madison art department
from 1962 to 1988. In 2002 he received one of the highest honors
in his field when the American Craft Council awarded him their
Gold Medal.
Jody Clowes is an independent art scholar and exhibition
curator.
Distributed for the Elvehjem Museum
of Art, University of Wisconsin–Madison
For additional information on this, or other
books distributed for the Elvehjem Museum of Art, see Elvehjem Museum of Art.
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July 2005
112 pp. 8 1/2 x 11
72 color photos
ISBN 0-932900-01-1 Paper
Out-of-print
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