Below:
OpenStock
N esting Bowls,
2000-
2004, slip-cast, hand-
carved stoneware
{largest h. 2 in, w. 14 in),
from a collection that
Erteman designed and
produced in Peru.
Right:
P a in ted Boat,
2005, handbuilt white-
ware, with layered slips
and glazes {h. 3
in,
w. 24 in, d. loin}.
have the look o f brushstrokes. “ Before they w ere fired,” Erteman
explains, “ I would coat them w ith black clay slip, then carve the
surfaces very spontaneously.” Each piece was finished w ith several
layers o f satin matte glaze to impart an elegant sheen in the final
firing. But, at a certain point, Ertem an felt she had fully explored
this approach and began to seek new ways o f working the surfaces.
“ Instead o f carving,” she says, “ I began adding layers o f slip and
resists, building up, sanding back and scumbling. I didn’t exactly
know what I was after, only that I wanted a deeper, richer surface.”
A s w ell, she wanted to carry forw ard the iconography o f circles
and lines she had developed for the carved w ork. T his led to experi-
ments with monoprinting—a traditional technique in which images
are transferred from one paper surface to another. W orking first
w ith an oversize platter form , Ertem an used paper painted w ith
slip to print dots and other form s on the surface. She also devised
a unique method for using clay itself as the transfer medium because,
as she explains, “ I could apply texture to the clay and cut out shapes
very easily.” She w ent on to use the technique on new form s, includ-
ing tall, cylindrical, slip-cast vases that can reach gravity-defying
heights. T h e graphic treatments can sometimes be view ed as linear
abstract landscapes, or in the case o f the platters, visionary aerial
views that Erteman has come to associate w ith her own subconscious
interpretations o f Aboriginal dot paintings. T h e slab wall pieces,
w ith their groupings o f abstract black form s, suggest familial rela-
tionships, w hile the grid m odules-each one different in glaze and
texture—dem onstrate h ow effectively an assemblage o f purely ce-
ramic identities can function w ithin a minimalist geom etry.
W ard M in tz, an independent curator and collector w ho owns
and treasures several o f Ertem an’s carved pieces, finds him self
“drawn to K athy’s strong modernist impulse.” He adds: “ Some o f
her glazes remind me that she’s an heir to a California ceramic tradi-
tion that I associate w ith the great duo O tto and G ertrud N atzler.”
Although Erteman does indeed boast California roots, she is
o f Dutch and Viennese heritage. Erteman’s mother was a fashion
designer and commercial artist, while her father inherited artworks
from uncles w ho w ere art collectors in Am sterdam . T h e N atzler
name w as an oft-repeated mantra in her home. “ W h en I w as very
young,” says Ertem an, “ I saw photos o f the N atzlers w orking in
their modern home studio. I thought ‘T h at’s how I w ant to live.’”
Erteman came o f age as a potter in the 1970s during the ferment
o f California’s ceram ic revolution, w hose avatars—Peter V oulkos,
Robert Arneson and others—w ere declaring the functional vessel
DOA.
“ In m y 20s in school in the Bay A rea ,” says Ertem an, “ you
w eren’t even allowed to make functional pots.” But that point o f
view didn’t resonate w ith her. “ I saw things as either sculpture or
functional pots, and sculpture could be made out o f any material,”
she says. “ It didn’t need to be clay.” Erteman committed herself to
the vessel form and has pursued functional, well-designed ceramics
throughout her 30-year career. A t times she has felt herself pigeon-
holed as a “ designer,” perhaps because her stylish pots w ere sold>
042 american craft aug/sep09
