Roxanne Hunnicutt
Every pottery piece is an aesthetic statement defining her relationship to the world. Platters are thrown upside down on the potter’s wheel. Roxanne mixes both the clay and the glazes for wares, firing to various temperatures in various kilns. Using a smoke firing technique with platters. The colors the achieve come, not from glazes, but from oxides and outdated drugs applied to the surface.
After a first firing, the platter is returned to the fire. When the temperature is up to over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit, the piece is pulled from the kiln, using lots of safety devices, and the horsehair is applied at just the right moment in the cooling. Its ash creates the patterns. Later, the front surface is smoothed and a layer of super fine clay, called terra sigillatta, is applied. Then after a first firing, the platter is returned to a hardwood fire and various metals are burned onto the surface.