SITE STUDY: EXPANDED CERAMICS / EARTH REVERSAL / PEAT EXCAVATION
Ceramics department / University of Washington / Seattle, WA / John Roloff with Michael Swaine’s students / 1/20/2017
A geologic site study revealed two available Quaternary, surficial, strata for physical investigation using a motorized tiller and auger seen as clay tools used in an expanded definition of ceramics that include agriculture and the landscape. A preliminary video edit of the project was used in the exhibition, Diderot/Forrest/Roloff at NCECA 2017, Portland, OR. Long-term investigations of ceramics as a function of geologic materials and processes as well as inspiration from Diderot’s Encyclopedia were instrumental in the development of this project.
Tiller Component Description:
An area of approximately 20 ft x 45 ft (the floor plan of a portion of the 2017 NCECA exhibition site in Portland OR) is opened up to the sky using a 20th century mechanical tiller. Area was “planted” with nutrient ceramic materials and brick from the UW kilns crushed by UW ceramic students. The project exists in video and submerged earthen state that may enhance future plant growth, practical and conceptual use of the site.
Post Hole Auger Description:
A single vertical hole 1.5 m deep was dug using a 20th century mechanical post hole auger to discover and expose past organic and clay materials From the Holocene Lake Washington deposits (seeking the buried Pleistocene glacial till beneath). Fired ceramic bricks were made from some of the excavated materials, replaced with used kiln bricks from the UW kilns and refilled with original sediments.
