Diane Mayo: Raku

Opening November 29 and on view through January 19, 2009, The Drawing Room is pleased to present "Diane Mayo: Raku." A longtime resident of Montauk, Diane Mayo has been firing raku vessels in her garden for many years. Created over the last eight years, this lively collection of Mayo’s colorful, cylindrical striped pots huddle in a family of shapes. While the tall, slightly funky postures of each handled form recall water jugs carried through the ages, Mayo’s rolled slab continuous surface vessels are fields for a serious contemporary investigation of color and the magical consequences of raku firing. This painterly body of ceramic sculpture takes the striped Nigerian weavings that inspired them in a fresh and innovative direction.

Diane Mayo’s joyful raku vessels emerge from a long process in which each stage contributes significantly to the overall depth and texture of the color and personality of the final form. Hand built from rolled slabs, each vessel is bisque fired in an electric kiln before it is glazed. Mayo chooses to work with clay high in Kyanite, which enables her works to tolerate both the rapid rise in temperature in the open raku flames, and the subsequent thermal shock they undergo when they are removed from the fire.

With glazing characterized by subtle patchwork compositions achieved with formulas she has tested for years, Mayo’s sculptural process expands to encompass that of an experienced painter. Brushing on the glaze with an evident gesture, she overlaps edges, layering some glazes to achieve her highly nuanced palette. Glazes such as cobalt melt quickly in the kiln, while others like the manganese or opaque white, also used in majolica, mature slowly. Mayo’s ability to balance and plan the chemistry behind these decisions and marry each form to the appropriate painting emerges from years in a studio that is a room of tests. 

See below for full press release and selected works.