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1998 John Ransmeier North Carolina Pottery Huge Heavy Studio Pottery Platter.<br>Very heavy, strong, durable, high fired platter. This thing would take a chunk<br>out of a sidewalk if dropped on it I'm sure. It's a real monster, a real work of<br>art. Both Simple yet complex at the same time. 21" x 16" x 3.5" deep, a<br>functional work of art in mint condition with no damage or wear whatsoever. John<br>used a variety of clays I believe. This is a very strong Stoneware clay(not red<br>clay) fired at a high temperature and salt glazed, therefore very durable and<br>heavy.<br><br>John Ransmeier<br>John grew up in Asheville, North Carolina. His interest in clay began in high<br>school. After a visit to the Penland School of Crafts, a bit of research and<br>some ingenuity, he built his first kick wheel in 1970. From books, he taught<br>himself how to throw clay and make pots.<br><br>During an apprenticeship with Gene Bunker, John worked in porcelain and<br>concentrated in glaze reduction. After a year of study at the Kansas City Art<br>Institute, he established a studio in the Highwater Crafts Center in Asheville,<br>NC and co-founded Biltmore Clay Company. He went on to study with potters Seth<br>Duberstein of New Paltz, New York and Paul Chaleff of Pine Plains, New York.<br><br>After working as a studio potter in production porcelain, John studied for two<br>years at The University of North Carolina at Asheville and then received his BFA<br>from Alfred University in Alfred, New York in 1990. He spent some time doing<br>graduate work at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and then moved to<br>Santa Fe, New Mexico where he established a working studio for the next four<br>years.<br><br>After returning to North Carolina in 1994, John built a wood fire kiln and<br>established a studio in Weaverville, North Carolina where he lives and works<br>today. His work has spanned a wide spectrum of processes, clay bodies, glazes<br>and style. John continues to travel across the country exhibiting in fine craft<br>shows and selling his work in galleries and museums in the southeast.<br><br>John Ransmeier Pottery, Weaverville NC<br><br>All work is assembled from slab, wheel-thrown, pressed and coil elements. Pieces<br>are then high fired in a reducing atmosphere using biofuel.<br><br>Making pots is about evolution. As long as I feel my work is progressing,I don't<br>worry. Not long ago,I tried to maintain control over surfaces and glazes.In<br>reaction to that,I have gravitated toward a looser way of making pieces using<br>glazes that I could't control even if I tried.Perhaps reduction firing, with its<br>own tendency toward variation has nudged me in this direction.I am always<br>looking for ways to allow my work to progress. There is a saying, "At the point<br>of origin, lie the most possibilities. "My goal is to keep enough freedom in my<br>work to allow those possibilities to take form.
