Ceramics and Chemistry Collide
Matt Katz received a C in his high school chemistry class. Nevertheless, he pursued a career as a ceramic engineer, exploring the inherent bond between glazing pottery and science. One might never have imagined the complex chemical reactions that connect the ceramic plates in dining halls to pottery created by the ancient Romans, but without the Stull Chart, glazing would be all but a hit or miss.
This past Thursday, the Exeter art and science departments held a slide talk with artist and ceramic engineer Matthew Katz. During his presentation, Katz explained the chemical aspect of ceramic glazes and described his journey to becoming the artist and scientist that he is today.
The talk piqued students’ interests, and Exonians now have an opportunity to participate in a class which is a marriage of the two subjects. After taking a ceramics course over the summer at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, art instructor Carla Collins was inspired to create her own ceramics and chemistry course at Exeter.
Before starting the course, Collins recruited chemistry instructor Anne Johnson to co-instruct and explain the chemical side of the class. Although Johnson teaches chemistry, she has long wanted to explore ceramics. “I’ve always wanted to do ceramics but never found the time for it… [Mrs. Collins] was looking for someone so I instantly jumped on the bandwagon,” she explained. With advice from Collins, Johnson took an online course with Katz to prepare her to instruct the class at Exeter.
Now an official sandbox course open to uppers and seniors in winter term, “EXI409: Advanced Ceramics + Chemistry: C-Squared” offers Exonians the opportunity to explore the formulation and science behind ceramic glazes and textures through hands-on labs including throwing, hand building, modeling and industrial slip casting. Despite this lab approach, students in the course are still given enough freedom to explore and develop their individual style.
Upper Emily Oliphant, a current student of the EXI409 course, explained how the course often referred back to Katz’s works. She even credits him as being the “backbone of [the ceramic chemistry] field with his work.” Because of his importance in ceramics and chemistry, she expressed how “awesome” it was to work with him in person.
Much like current Exonians, the ceramic engineer took his first ever pottery course as a part of the arts requirement at his high school after an initial fascination with the process. While studying ceramics at Hebron Academy, Katz was entranced by how the product changed after being baked in the kiln. “To me, the mystery of that was really engaging,” he said. “Just like any great mystery story, you want to figure out how it happened and that really took me into it.”
Ceramic chemists uncover the science behind this baking process. Through countless experiments and research, Katz has published many studies that relate the elements of ceramics, such as glaze color and porcelain texture, to chemical reactions in order to provide reliability for the artist. “It’s not my idea; it’s been part of the ceramic process for a long time,” Katz explained. It can be heartbreaking for a sculptor to spend hours on a work, only to find out it had cracked due to poor glazing choice. This subtle yet crucial detail can greatly affect a piece, changing how others perceive it. Katz continued to describe how “amazing” it is to be able to see pottery, glazes and firings come together as one chemical reaction.
In the end, it was his love of art and science that inspired Katz to pursue a career as a ceramic chemist, regardless of the initial setback in chemistry class. “I went back and saw my teacher and we laughed about the fact that I am now essentially a professional chemist,” Katz said. “So never shut anything down and never say you can’t do something. You have to be open to everything even if the first path seems like it’s not going to work for you.”