Barbra Bragg uses ancient Japanese method
By Chuck Bingaman Contributing Writer Saturday, September 27, 2008 1:38 PM
WALPOLE -- Walpole's Barbra Bragg returns as a juried craftsperson Saturday to the 75th Annual League of New Mount Sunapee Resort.
And that's meant that her outdoor/indoor studio space has been smokin' for the past several weeks. Literally.
Bragg does Raku, the ancient Japanese pottery method whereby clay pieces are heated quickly to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit in special kilns and then moved to covered containers -- in her case, metal garbage cans -- filled with combustible materials such as saw dust and straw. The resulting, smoky process "reduces" the pottery surfaces and glazing giving them a unique, aged look and stains the exposed surface with carbon.
Bragg currently focuses on creating fanciful visual pieces she calls tongue pots (faces with removable tongues), zoo morphs (creature-like things with legs, bodies and often dangling wire doo-dads), chimneys (stacks of ringlike pieces), story houses, and masks. Some hang on walls, some sit on tables, others are just there to be looked at. Are they functional? Bragg says "to be looked at is a function too, you know." And they are something to look at!
"I first showed my work at the League's Annual Crafts Fair 25 years ago, but then I went off and worked in porcelain, painting and sculpture -- areas that aren't shown at the fair," she said. "So now I'm back in pottery full-time, and it's great to being going to the fair again."
Bragg says she likes "being on the edge, producing really primitive, archeological, earthy, 'just dug out of the ground' looks." And her pieces fit that description.
But it's not all fun and games. Bragg says her work, which she pursues nearly everyday, is work, not fun.
"I wouldn't say it's fun. It is intellectual, exciting and has lots of surprises. And there are frequent disappointments. Such as when people reject your work or when you accidentally crack a favorite piece in the firing process. And it's hard to make money selling art."
But she wouldn't -- couldn't -- trade her life for another.
"I've been playing in the mud and making things with rocks since I was little girl," Bragg said. "It's what I do. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't be making things"
Along the way Bragg has collected a bachelor of fine arts in Ceramics at State University of New York at New Paltz and a master's of fine arts at Johnson State College in Vermont. She's also taught ceramics and sculpture at Plymouth State College and Granite State College. To be allowed to exhibit at next week's fair, her work had to be juried by a panel of her peers in the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, a serious hurdle for serious artists.
Why go to the work of creating an inventory of pieces and traveling to the annual fair?
"Well," says Bragg, "I hope to sell a lot of stuff. But I also want to meet representatives for several galleries that might handle my pottery and meet the managers of the New Hampshire League stores. They too might want to stock my pieces for sale. And I hope to see many New Hampshire friends over the four days I'll be there. My booth's number 318."
The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's Annual Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, August 2 to Sunday, August 10 at the Mt. Sunapee Resort on Route 103 east of Newport. In addition to hundreds of exhibitors showing baskets, pottery, fiber crafts, glass, leather, metal, printmaking and more, there are musical performances several times daily, special exhibits and workshops, and even childcare. Compete details are available at www.nhcrafts.org.
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