Elizabeth Leifer
Resides: Macleay Island, The Redlands
Elizabeth Leifer has lived and worked in Queensland for most of her adult life. For the last five years Elizabeth has made Macleay Island her home and studio, searching for the bayside tranquillity and bountiful inspiration of the marine environment.
Elizabeth first trained as a Secondary School Teacher, then as an Architect. She has had careers in teaching, architecture and graphic design, but for the last decade Elizabeth has increasingly explored the field of hand built ceramic sculpture.
Elizabeth first developed a serious interest in clay work on a five year sojourn in New Zealand. Arriving fortuitously on an island in the Hauraki Gulf, a well-known refuge for artists of all kinds, she took the opportunity to develop her self taught skills by attending workshops and seeking guidance from her fellow artists. By attending the annual Fletcher Challenge Exhibitions she was able to study the works of international ceramic artists. For a short time Elizabeth became an exhibiting member of the Auckland Studio Potters.
On her return to Australia Elizabeth completed a course in Architectural and Sculptural Ceramics at Gateway TAFE. Here, Elizabeth first began experimenting with the semi-random and earthy effects that can be achieved with low firing techniques such as saggar, raku, pit and smoke firing. Elizabeth is fascinated with the nature-like qualities of these effects. Patterns and colours are reminiscent of those found on natural objects. Elizabeth feels they are appropriate finishes for the marine inspired objects she creates.
“I love the serendipitous quality of these firing techniques and the fact that I can never absolutely control the result. I make my contribution to the look of the piece by wrapping the naked bisque-fired object with copper, masking tape or covering it with slip and incising a pattern. Then I submit the piece to the firing process where the flames or the smoke make their own magical contribution. In this way I see myself as a collaborator with the elements, and I gratefully accept whatever they have to offer.”
Saggar fired pieces are sealed inside a container within the kiln. Combustible and volatile materials such as copper oxide, sea salt, seaweed and sawdust are added. The sealed environment results in an oxygen starved atmosphere which draws the fumes into the clay body and results in soft earthy pinks and browns.
Smoked pieces are fired in a container filled with sawdust that combusts very slowly and produces a lot of smoke. The black marks on the smoke fired pieces result from the penetration of smoke into areas that have been incised through a masking layer of soft clay which is peeled off after smoking.
Pit fired pieces are fired in a shallow depression in the ground. The prepared objects are put onto a bed of sawdust and clothed in a blanket of seaweed, liberally sprinkled with copper oxide and sea salt crystals in critical locations. The pile is covered with a layer of fallen branches and set alight. This type of firing creates an atmosphere that is sometimes oxygen rich and sometimes oxygen starved in the upper part of the pit, and a smoking type atmosphere in the lower part. This process results in a fuller spectrum of colours ranging from rich copper red to dense black.
All of Elizabeth’s pieces are labour intensive hand built works, utilising either the coiling or slabbing methods. She uses Keane’s white raku clay which achieves a good strength in the low firing range (1000 C). The soft surface sheen is achieved through a rigorous triple burnishing process. Initial burnishing occurs at the leather hard stage and is achieved with a flat stainless steel tool. When the object is bone dry it is carefully dampened with a sponge and burnished with a polished stone. It is then again burnished for the final time with an oiled stone which produces a high sheen. This sheen is dulled considerably during the bisque firing, but after the final firing the object is rubbed with carnauba wax, resulting in a soft patina.