Al Pellenberg has been playing in the
mud since he was a child, building mud pies and
building out of dirt maybe why he became an architect
and designer. Over the years Al has been in and out of
the clay studio, working on the wheel for many years
but spending more time doing hand-building for the
last decade. "I find hand-building to be a natural
extension of architecture,” he says.
Al has been obsessed with boxes, lidded forms and jars for a while now and his current work reflects that. He works with several clay bodies but his favorite by far is native Georgia Red Clay mined near the town of Lizella in the southern part of the state. "This is how it comes right out of the ground, all they do is take out the stones and organic matter,” he says. “It is such a natural feeling clay in your hands.”
“Lizella Planter No. 5,” made of LIzella clay, stands almost a full foot tall and is about 9" square at the top. The clay was first rolled out on a slab roller and then the side panels where cut out based on one of Al's own templates, Al then cuts a 45 degree bevel on the sides and bottom of all the side pieces as well as all four side of the base slab, he then added a decorative frieze around the top with a bisque stamp he created. The clay is allowed to rest for 48 hours to allow it to come to "leather hard". This allows for construction with clean crisp architectural corners. A top is then cut from a clean slab and added. The piece is bisque fired to cone 06 (1800 Degrees F), then dipped in a white glaze twice to create enough surface for the glaze to run in random streams when fired to Cone 6 (2350 Degrees F).
Al also gives freely of his time and talents and gives back to the community by creating many of the logos and ongoing graphic campaigns for Positive Impact, Georgia Equality and The Atlanta Pride Committee.
Purchase Lizella Planter No. 5 for $75. For more on Al’s work, visit his Web site at www.newgeorgiaclaywork.com.
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