Paul Edmund Soldner (April 24, 1921 – January 3, 2011) was an American ceramic artist and educator, noted for his experimentation with the 16th-century Japanese technique called raku, introducing new methods of firing and post firing, which became known as American Raku. He was the founder of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in 1966.

After receiving his MFA degree in Ceramics in 1956, Soldner began teaching at Scripps College. In the 1966, he founded Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. He was also involved in starting the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

He developed a type of low-temperature salt firing. Along with Voulkos, Soldner has been credited with creating the "California School" of ceramic arts by combining Western materials and technology with Japanese techniques and aesthetics.

Soldner retired from Scripps in 1991. He lived and maintained studios in Aspen, Colorado, and Claremont, California. He died January 3, 2011, in Claremont, California.

  • 2003 Honorary Doctorates of Fine Arts from Bluffton College, Ohio
  • 2008 Awarded the Aileen Osborn Webb Gold Medal by the American Craft Council, New York City, New York.

Bibliography

  • Nothing to Hide Exposures, Disclosures and Reflections Clay Times Inc., (2008)
  • Kiln Construction American Craftsmen's Council (1965)
  • Makers, A History of American Studio Craft by Koplos, Janet & Metcalf, Bruce; University of North Carolina Press, July 2010, , 544 pages, 409 color and 50 b&w photos, notes, index

Film and video

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Title

!Type

!Notes

|-

|2005

|Paul Soldner: Playing with Fire

|documentary

|Film was directed by Renée Bergan.

|-

|2000

|Paul Soldner, The Courage to Explore

|documentary

|

|-

|1992

|Paul Soldner: Thrown and Altered Clay

|documentary, school video

|

|-

|1989

|Paul Soldner Thoughts on Creativity

|documentary

|Made by American Ceramic Society, Southern California Section Design Chapter,

|}

Collections and exhibitions

Soldner's work is included in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.

Work can also be found in the following galleries:

  • American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California. Paul Soldner's exhibition "Inferno" was featured for the opening of the museum in September 11, 2004
  • National Gallery of Australia, Sydney, Australia
  • National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
  • Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
  • Scripps College, Claremont, California.
  • Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C..
  • Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

See also

  • Claude Champy, French ceramist who worked with Raku-ware

References

  • Oral history interview with Paul Soldner, 2003 April 27-28, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution