After studying under Peter Voulkos at the Los Angeles County Art Institute, Denver native Paul Soldner (1921–2011) became a pottery professor there in the 1960s, when the revolutionary California Clay Movement took root.
Soldner pioneered American-style raku firing methods, experimental updates of the centuries-old Japanese process, which involve pulling red-hot sculptures out of the kiln to be bathed in smoke or dipped in cold water, resulting in beautifully frazzled glazes.
“These new firing and post-firing reduction methods often led to spontaneous, unpredictable and quite wonderful results,” says Greg Nielson, of Dwell Floor Five, in Studio City, California.
Soldner’s raku vases, for instance, with their charred surfaces, seem to smile humbly through the scars of their past adversity.
Alongside the likes of Toshiko Takaezu, Soldner innovated chunky, funky ceramics in the mid-century and beyond. He is one Voulkos student at whom enthusiasts should take a serious look, advises dealer Jayson Lawfer.
The owner of The Nevica Project, a gallery with venues in Chicago and Kansas City, Lawfer explains that Soldner “was a master of raku and was credited with bringing the historic Asian technique to the U.S.” He adds that “Soldner used simple techniques of throwing pottery on the wheel, but to make his sculptural forms more interesting, he also pressed burlap into the clay and stepped on it to give it different textures."
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Paul Soldner California Studio Stoneware Pottery Vase
By Paul Soldner
Located in Palm Springs, CA
A spouted stoneware bottleneck vase with tenmoku glaze created by Paul Soldner of Claremont, California, circa 1960. Vase stands 9 1/8" in height and is signed Soldner on the bottom....
Stoneware
$2,620Sale Price|20% Off
H 23.25 in W 6.75 in D 6.5 in
1970 Brutalist Studio Pottery Floor Vase by Inge
Located in New Windsor, NY
Handmade slab built monumental Brutalist pottery vase. Meticulously decorated and glazed with organic and geometric patterns and shapes. Applied neck. Signed and dated, Inge, 70 a th...
Stoneware
$430Sale Price|25% Off
H 15.75 in Dm 7.75 in
Midcentury Ceramic Vase West Germany Uebelacker Keramik Studio Pottery
Located in Miami, FL
This tall collectable midcentury vintage vase was produced circa 1965 by the renowned manufacturer of West German pottery - Uebelacker Keramik. The vase features stunning green, oran...
Ceramic
Paul Soldner Abstract Expressionist Studio Ceramic Vase
By Paul Soldner
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Paul Soldner (1921-2010) abstract expressionist pottery vase. Glaze in black and brown, partly unglazed. Excellent design, mint condition. Signed Soldner on the bottom. Measures: 10" H x 8 3/4" W. Paul Soldner (1921-2011) was an American ceramic artist, noted for his experimentation with the 16th...
Clay
MCM California Studio Pottery Stoneware Vase
Located in San Diego, CA
A very nice MCM California studio pottery stoneware vase with brown earth tones, circa 1970s. The vessel is in very good vintage condition with no chips...
Pottery
Ruskin Pottery Ceramic Vase, Glazed Stoneware, 1927
By Ruskin Pottery
Located in New York, NY
Ruskin Pottery ceramic vase is made of hand thrown drip glazed stoneware. Impressed signature and date to underside: [Ruskin England 1927]. About the studio: "The Ruskin Pottery ...
Ceramic
MCM California Studio Pottery Stoneware Vase
Located in San Diego, CA
A very nice MCM California studio pottery stoneware vase with brown and green earth tones and pinched sides, circa 1966. The vessel is in very good vint...
Pottery
California Studio Pottery Ikebana Vase
Located in San Diego, CA
California studio pottery signed ikebana vase with multiple openings, circa 1960s. This very unique piece measures: 4.5" D x 14.5" H and is signed on the ...
Pottery
MCM California Studio Pottery Stoneware Fan Shaped Vase - Signed
Located in San Diego, CA
A very well crafted MCM California studio pottery stoneware fan shaped vase, circa 1970s. The vessel is in very good vintage condition with no chips or cracks and measures 11.25"W x ...
Stoneware
Ceramic Vase, Glazed Stoneware Vase, Ciboure Pottery, France, circa 1925
By Ciboure
Located in New York, NY
One of a set of beautiful ceramics from Ciboure Pottery, this piece is inspired by antiquity—evident in its form, its spare coloring, and its depiction of classical figures. Produced...
Stoneware
$6,000
H 8.75 in W 4.25 in D 4.25 in
Ceramic Vase, Glazed Stoneware Vase, Ciboure Pottery, France, 1940s
By Ciboure
Located in New York, NY
One of a set of beautiful ceramics from Ciboure Pottery, this vase is decorated by Pedro Garcia de Diego (1904-1969)with a captivating arabesque pattern in blacks and browns on a neu...
Stoneware
$1,400
H 11.82 in W 7.88 in D 1.97 in
Brown Stoneware Ceramic Vase Sculpture circa 1970 La Borne Pottery
Located in Neuilly-en- sancerre, FR
Elegant and decorative mid-20th century design stoneware ceramic vase Original brown ceramic glaze color Realized, circa 1970 Signed at the base Measures: Height 30cm, la...
Ceramic
$1,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 9.25 in Dm 4.25 in
Paul Bellardo Teardrop Perforated Studio Pottery Sculptural Vase
By Paul Bellardo
Located in Hyattsville, MD
Paul’s first one-man-show was in 1965 at the DeCordova Museum of Fine Arts in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It was at this showing that 18 pieces of Paul’s work were purchased by Walt...
Stoneware
Paul Soldner Large Raku Fired Ceramic Pottery Bowl
By Paul Soldner
Located in Studio City, CA
An amazing and special piece by renowned American potter Paul Soldner who in the 1950s was Peter Voulkos' first student and later became famed for developing the technique now known ...
Stoneware
Paul Soldner Raku Vessel
By Paul Soldner
Located in Winnetka, IL
This is a Paul Soldner( 1921-2011) 1970s raku vessel
Ceramic, Lucite