Welcome to NewsFile, your weekly roundup of news from the world of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art! This week we’re kicking off with the news that Cfile has been named the top website for contemporary ceramic art according to Feedspot. We’re rated #1 out of 40 websites, according to criteria that includes Google rankings, popularity on Facebook and the opinion of Feedspot’s editorial team. You can read more about that here. We’ll have a post about this soon. Thanks Feedspot! Now let’s get on with the news.
Reiko Kaneko teams up with fashion designers PER/se
From We Heart:
Inspired by the less-is-more mantra, the twin sisters release just one item of clothing every two months, a concept born of frustration for contemporary clutter, and an ethos that echoes Reiko Kaneko’s meticulous craft. The coat’s clean lines and the duo’s desire to spend time considering each release’s fabric and design speak to the artisans and artists that have inspired their work; thick woven lines pick up the colours and vectors of Kaneko’s unique glaze.
The Meta coat is a lightweight piece of outerwear created from a waterproof waxed fabric; made to order, each item from PER/se’s singular concept is a true limited edition piece. Available now for £345 ($415).
Ceramics Could Protect Users from Exploding Cell Phones
From the American Ceramics Society:
Scientists can make life better, but they’re also horrible at explaining what they do. Case in point: April Gocha, PhD burying the lede six feet deep in an otherwise promising story about one of the hazards of modern life. Ceramics research may make exploding cell phones a thing of the past.
By comparison, LLZO offers a wider window of electrochemical stability than polymers. So LLZO electrolytes can provide 10–100 times higher ionic conductivities than polymers, allowing faster charge and discharge rates at the same battery thickness. Plus, ceramic electrolytes are stable up to high temperatures (>800ºC), whereas polymers can melt above just 60ºC, according to Yi.
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“Our results are a step forward to the realization of all-solid state lithium batteries. However, there are more steps to take,” Yi says.
Those steps include reducing LLZO film thickness, sintering temperature, and excess lithium content. “Reduced sintering temperatures will retard Li2O loss rates, widening the optimal processing window,” Yi explains via email. The authors also report in the paper that they’re exploring gallium-doped LLZO thin films as well.
UC Davis’ “Temporary” Building Placed on Register of Historic Places
UC Davis graced us with this story about an oxymoron with a legacy:
During the 1960s the University of California, Davis, began building an art department that turned out like no other. Much of that early work took place in Temporary Building 9, a metal structure at Old Davis Road and Hutchison Drive. TB 9 — as it was dubbed — has been nationally recognized for its importance in art history with its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources.
Founding art department Chair Richard Nelson hired a group of young artists, among them Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, William Wiley, Roland Petersen, Roy De Forest and Manuel Neri, and gave them the freedom to create at a place free from many distractions and rules. Arneson, who did groundbreaking work in ceramic sculpture, is most associated with TB 9, where the university’s ceramics facilities are located. He taught at UC Davis from 1962 until the year before his death in 1992.
“Holy Grail” of Revolutionary War Ceramics Discovered
From the American History Museum:
At first glance it may seem unassuming, but a small, white bowl uncovered during an archaeological excavation in Philadelphia has thrilled the ceramics world. The bowl marks the first physical proof of American-made true, hard-paste porcelain ever found.
Hard-paste – or true – porcelain, first produced by Chinese potters around the 7th century A.D., is notable for its desirable degree of translucency. Attempts to replicate the process were ongoing throughout the Western world in the 18th century.
“One of the most intriguing stories in the world of ceramic history is the search for the secrets of making hard-paste porcelain,” said Robert Hunter, editor of Ceramics in America and an author and archaeologist.
“The search, however, for physical evidence of making true porcelain in 18th century America has been frustratingly unsuccessful – until now. The discovery of this bowl is like finding the holy grail of American ceramics, and is a thrilling addition to the history of the American effort to produce this coveted material.”
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Recovered in 2014 from among nearly 85,000 artifacts found on the site of the new Museum of the American Revolution by archaeologists from Commonwealth Heritage Group, the bowl was initially thought to have a stoneware body. However, subsequent material analysis by Dr. J. Victor Owen, an expert on the geochemistry of archaeological ceramics and glass, and his colleagues revealed that the 18th century punch bowl is true-porcelain that had most likely been manufactured in Philadelphia.
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