I went to a workshop of Jeff Oestreich on Saturday, February 28 at the Trax Gallery in Berkeley, CA: http://www.traxgallery.com/.

He is born in 1947, and is a ceramic artist who lives in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. He studied at the Bemidji State University, and the University of Minnesota with Warren MacKenzie, and apprenticed at the Leach Pottery in England. He primarily makes functional work with minimal surface decoration and at the moment usually soda fired glazes. In his own words, “Function is at my core…never take function for granted…”
“My early pottery training at the Leach Pottery in England in the late 1960′s was heavily influenced by Japanese pottery, due to the fact that Bernard spent many years making work in Japan. Since that experience my work has slowly moved away from this direct influence. Although there are still the underpinnings of the pottery of Japan, China and Korea in my work, that being simplicity, directness of approach, I am doing salt glazing, which has its origins in Germany. (At the moment, he changed to soda fired glazes). I have one foot in Japan, one in Germany, and an interest in Art Deco architecture. All things considered, my approach is American, borrowing from as many sources that speak to me.”

His work can be found in the collections of the Everson Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Kansas City Museum, among others.

He started out with throwing some forms.

He cuts the already prepared cups with a cheese slicer.

His work is geometrical, colorful and interestingly decorated with straight lines and stamps.

At the moment, he uses a couple of soda fired glazes. Soda (Na2O, sodium) is used instead of salt (NaCl, sodium chloride) as in a salt firing, thus no dangerous vapors are emitted. However, the finish is not evenly coated as with salt firing. Soda is not as volatile as salt; therefore, blowers are needed to move the vapors around the kiln.

Thank you, Jeff. It was very interesting.