Werkstatt + Galerie TERRA S

The Austrian ceramist Roland Summer has been delighting experts with his vessels for years. They are hand-built, with a silky-glossy surface, similar to terra sigillata, as the Romans already used it for making fine tableware. Roland Summer fires his vessels using the Raku technique. Formally, his works sometimes resemble natural forms; in any case, they radiate the highest harmony and proportion. All pieces I produce are made using various building techniques. Usually, a group of works is created in parallel. In the leather-hard state, they are polished and covered with a terra sigillata (a glossy clay I produce). This is followed by a first bisque firing in an electric kiln and another application of terra sigillata. A second firing in an electric kiln follows. Then the piece is covered with a separating layer and sometimes additionally glazed. TERRA SIGILLATA - RAKU The vessels by Roland Summer stand in the ancient vessel tradition of humanity. They bear witness to simple stillness. In them, a synthesis of different cultures is found formally and technically: the building of the pieces in various building techniques, as used in Africa or pre-Columbian America, the subsequent polishing of the surfaces in the leather-hard state and the application of a coating of "terra sigillata" (= glossy clay), as common in Mediterranean countries, and finally the (originally Japanese) Raku firing. In this process, Roland Summer developed the technique of LOST GLAZE, in which, after the Raku firing, the glaze peels off the polished piece like an eggshell, leaving behind the drawing of the smoking. The mood and character of a vessel are always individual as a work result: they are never-ending variations of aesthetic new formations. Tradition as the constant, yet not rigid, repetition of the creative act, combined with the joy of experimentation, are the parameters for Roland Summer's personal artistic expression.