Robert
Turner Papers |
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| After receiving a Masters degree in industrial ceramic design at Alfred University, Robert Turner (b. 1913) developed the ceramics program at Black Mountain College from 1949 to 1951. He later served as professor of ceramics at Alfred University from 1958 to 1979, where he influenced generations of ceramic artists. Deeply influenced by Chinese and African ceramics, Turner's vessels are infused with a dynamic sense of interplay between forms. In an interview conducted for the Archives of American Art, Turner describes a spiritual transformation in his work in 1976: "What I wanted was something you couldn't tell whether it was being supported by the lower piece or springing from the lower piece.there was an uncertainty about it. You couldn't pin it down.it brings the ephemeral in, I think, and the mystic, the mystical. And that's where I wanted to go." Turner's personal papers include notes and other writings, correspondence, teaching materials, photographs, and financial records. | ||
 Letter from R. J. Hunt, director of the Mulvane Art Center in Topeka, Kansas, to Turner, February 20, 1973. |
 A paper that Turner delivered as part of a panel on "The Ceramist as Social Critic," ca. 1973. |
 Turner throwing, ca. 1965. Photographer unknown. |
 A handout, "Glazes and Colorants" from a class taught by Toshiko Takaezu (b. 1922) at the University of Wisconsin, ca. 1957. |
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