Peter James Quinn

Touched by fire – the private landscapes of Len Castle

Len Castle has shaped clay for 52 years, making pottery which reflects his deep fascination for the New Zealand landscape. He has travelled widely, camera in hand, seeking nature’s most dramatic expressions. But of all the landscapes that inspire him, it is the volcanic zones that exert the strongest pull. 

Written by       Photographed by Len Castle

Theo Schoon, the Dutch artist, was the person who introduced me to the geothermal areas of the central North Island—areas to which I have returned many times record on film the detail and drama of these incredible places. Here, at your feet and in the very air you breathe, are the feverish exhalations of volcanic activity. These sites are the art galleries of nature’s creations, thrust to the surface from subterra­nean crucibles by steam, boiling water and gases.

At Ketetahi hot springs, on the northern slopes of Moinit Tongariro, ­the potter can witness the genesis of his raw material, as hot, acidic water bubbling out of the mountainside attacks andesitic rock to produce clays tinted with blue, cream and, orange-brown. At Rotorua, deposits of pure-white clay have been formed by chemically. active vapours acting on pumice, while at nearby Waiotapu, and further south, at Wairakei, the palette of colours is gaudy and flamboyant, caused by traces of iron, sulphur, mercury and arsenic.

It is a transfixing experience to contemplate these rich cargoes of minerals being delivered to the surface, while the hot, ground hisses with activity all around you. But photographing the details of these panoplies of form, colour and texture is a hot and Frustrating activity Frustrating because of the warm fog  that condenses on the cold camera lens, and because what is rendered by film is so often inferior to what the eye sees and the mind embraces.

In the making of this lipped bowl, the dry surface of a lump of clay was played off against the moist, plastic clay within. The clay was beaten in a mould with a pestle, compressing it and forcing it out to the edges. An active, iron-containing underglaze was applied, then a blue overglaze which was designed to shrink and crack during drying and firing, letting the underglaze seep through. The final result is a dramatic demonstration of forces in tension—parallel of the state of nature.
In the making of this lipped bowl, the dry surface of a lump of clay was played off against the moist, plastic clay within. The clay was beaten in a mould with a pestle, compressing it and forcing it out to the edges. An active, iron-containing underglaze was applied, then a blue overglaze which was designed to shrink and crack during drying and firing, letting the underglaze seep through. The final result is a dramatic demonstration of forces in tension—parallel of the state of nature.

Geothermal areas have much to teach about processes as well as prod­ucts. For , example, as clay and, mud dry they exhibit a characteristic cracking pattern built around a system of 90- and 120-degree joints. In my photograph of a-dry fumarole at Whakarewarewa, you can see where evaporation has drawn various salts to the surface of the clay to produce a dappled pattern of thundercloud blue and yellow. Occasional showers of rain have pitted the surface as well as eroding and softening the edges of the clay-mud blocks.

The phenomenon of cracking intrigues me, and is one of the textural , expressions that I use in a number of my ceramic forms. These forms evolve from a solid sphere or slab of plastic clay that is coated with dry, powdered clay, Stretching the clay causes tensions, and cracking occurs as the surface area increases: The patterns are controlled and varied by the positioning of the powdered clay, its degree of fineness and by the intro­duction of stress lines that’ evolve into more -pronounced cracks with further stretching.

Silicaan essential ingredient of glazes and clays, is also an important mineral in the geothermal world. When hot geothermal water cools, the dissolved silica precipitates as sinter. At Waiotapu, beautiful coralline formations of sinter line the overflow channels of the Champange Pool. Further down the slope, the cooling water releases more silica, creating the bioad, wave-like Primrose Terraces. Near the vent of Pohutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa, grapelike clusters and geyser “eggs” form as layer upon layer of  sinter are deposited around a central nucleus.

Although I have been able to give expression to a number of these physical effects in my work, I have never been able to fully express the power of the geothermal landscape: It is unfathomable and containable. Perhaps the closest i have coming to giving form to its raw energy has been in the making of my Earth Books, where the process of rending clay parallelled the violent forces within the Earth’s crust.

Geothermal areas have been a rich stimulus to my art and my understanding. These dangerous and restless places continue to beckon me.

At Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve a mud volcano which has temporarily spent its energy rests in a near-dormant state during the summer months. Its lava-like flow of mud metamorphoses as it dries, producing a visually exciting spectacle of cracks and patterns of mineral deposits.
Shattered strata of old mud deposits near the Champagne Pool, Waiotapu, reveal ancient accumulations of sulphates of antimony and arsenic.
Shattered strata of old mud deposits near the Champagne Pool, Waiotapu, reveal ancient accumulations of sulphates of antimony and arsenic.
Mud has to be at just the right viscosity to create the glorious concentric patterns seen in this mud pond at Whakarewarewa. Tannins in the surrounding water highlight the ripples.
Mud has to be at just the right viscosity to create the glorious concentric patterns seen in this mud pond at Whakarewarewa. Tannins in the surrounding water highlight the ripples.
Islands of coralline sinter grow in the hot water at the edge of the Champagne Pool. An orange coating of sulphides covers the inner lip of the pool, a 900-year-old explosion crater which has filled with alkaline spring water.
A stone thrown casually into a sinter terrace at Waiotapu has been cemented where it fell by the silica-containing water. The white areas are dry ponds surrounded by algae-coloured, water-filled ponds.
A stone thrown casually into a sinter terrace at Waiotapu has been cemented where it fell by the silica-containing water. The white areas are dry ponds surrounded by algae-coloured, water-filled ponds.
Hydrothermally altered rock at Wairakei has been metamorphosed into a waxy clay coloured like a rich, red Turkoman rug by haematite amd a viel of gossamer fine silica.
Hydrothermally altered rock at Wairakei has been metamorphosed into a waxy clay coloured like a rich, red Turkoman rug by haematite amd a viel of gossamer fine silica.

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