The Suzzallo Statues
In 1924, sculptor Allan Clark created 18 three-quarter life-size statues at the Clayton terra cotta works for placement on the exterior of the Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington in Seattle
by
- Wally Lee Parker -
Other than crumbling bits of concrete foundations and a scattering of un-salvaged brick, nothing is left of the four-story terra cotta factory that once stood at the east end of Clayton's brickyard. Though the factory is gone, the objects produced there still adorn both interiors and exteriors of many buildings across the country. A growing interest in preservation insures that at least some of these buildings will survive the wrecking ball. And with them, at least a few of the various styles of tiles and architectural features once fired in Clayton's kilns.
Recently, a newspaper clipping surfaced from the March 23, 1924 edition of theSpokesman-Review - a clipping that draws one more connection between Clayton's terra cotta factory and a building of historic importance - in this case, a building not likely to ever be deliberately demolished.
On the 14th day of April, 1923, ground was broken on the University of Washington campus in Seattle for construction of the Suzzallo Library reading room. This was to be the first of the Library's three parts, though only two parts of the original design were ever completed.
Shortly after his appointment to Presidency of the university in 1915, construction of a suitable library building for the school had become one of Henry Suzzallo's top priorities. The library's design was to follow the era's most popular architectural style for educational institutions, "Collegiate Tudor Gothic".
Referring to the pre-renaissance cathedrals of Europe, the term Gothic in the above phrase more appropriately means Gothic Revival - a design sensibility originating in England in the mid-18th century. "Tudor" implies an influence from the architectural styles prevalent in England during the reign of the house of Tudor - which ended with the death of the first Queen Elizabeth. These two blended architectural traditions had become the dominant force in college campus design throughout America at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the University of Washington, this Tudor Gothic sensibility expressed itself throughout the Suzzallo Library in what is generally recognized as an uncommonly beautifully manner.
As part of the complex exterior details of the library's first wing were twenty-one statues. Three of these, the ones intended to stand above the library's main entrance, were to be stylized cast-stone figures symbolizing "Mastery, Inspiration, and Thought." The other 18 figures, each to be a realistic representation of an actual historical personage, were to be fired in terra cotta and fitted into wall niches high above the west side courtyard of the 110 foot high building. Or, as the Spokesman-Review article states, "to occupy niches 6o feet above the ground, across the facade and three at each side at the front of the building."
In late November of 1923, the University's President invited the faculty to submit names of individuals representing significant "contributions to learning and culture" that they thought should be immortalized as "external decorative features" of the new library. Two hundred and forty-six names were submitted - eight of which were women, even though the President had specifically stated that the "figures of eighteen men" would be selected from the submitted nominees.
Regent Winlock W. Miller, President Henry Suzzallo, and Dean David Thomson made the final selection, and submitted the names of those chosen to the building committee of the Board of Regents. This committee then commissioned sculptor Allan Clark of Tacoma to create all twenty-one of the library's exterior statues.
Clark and his wife - whom the Spokesman describes as "a writer" - were about to leave on an extensive tour of the Far East - to study various oriental art forms and artistic techniques - when the commission offer arrived. The Clarks postponed their trip.
Allan Clark was born in Missoula, Montana, on June 8, 1896. His family then moved to Tacoma, in Washington State - where he later attended Tacoma's Puget Sound College. From 1916 to 1917, he studied under Albin Polasek, a master stone carver, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Beginning in 1920, after induction into the National Sculpture Society, Clark spent several years at New York City's Art Students League as a student of Robert Aitken, noted architectural sculptor.
One art critic has suggested that the Suzzallo statues were likely the largest single commission Clark ever received. As the critic pointed out, working on commission is quite common for younger, un-established artists. It has the advantage of a reasonable assurance that the work being done will produce a profit - its disadvantage is that the work produced must be acceptable to the expectations of the patron. Artistic license - the freedom to pursue artistic whim - is generally curtailed or removed by the reality of a commission contract.
It is possible that just such an artistic whim leads to the most popular story visitors on current Suzzallo Library tours are told.
In 1951, Harry C. Bauer, then director of the University of Washington Libraries, stated that Allan Clark had included a monkey on his preliminary model of his statue of Charles Darwin. Bauer wrote that the completed and mounted statue would have had the monkey clinging to Darwin's left shoe, and thumbing his nose at the visitors below. The original version of the story stated that University President, Henry Suzzallo, objected, and had the monkey removed. Later on, the story changed, suggesting that Suzzallo's fear of an anti-evolutionist backlash caused him to order that the monkey be removed. Current consensus seems to be that the original story was a fabrication of unknown origin, repeated by director Bauer, and embellished with each retelling.
The only available photo of Clark's preliminary statue of Darwin is one taken in a workshop at Clayton's terra cotta factory. The photograph shows the completed clay statue - perhaps ¾ life size, and beside it the small, plaster model. Light for the photo comes from the overhead skylight, and possibly some type of auxiliary flash. The plaster model is only about 14 inches in height. Its small size, combined with the reflectivity of the white plaster against the shadowed workshop makes details, such as Darwin's left foot, indistinct. The only thing that can be said for certain is that the photo in this writer's possession has no such attachment visible on the left foot of the larger clay rendition - which is consistent with Director Bauer's version of the story.
While it might be possible for modern technology to draw a better image from the original negative, the Coordinator for the Special Collections Division of the University of Washington Libraries, James Stack, stated that the original negative of this photo, as well as the original negatives for all the photos used in this article, could not be located - and may no longer exist. The photos mentioned here were scanned from prints found in the library's collection. (Author's Note: The photo's refered to in the above paragraphs are the ones appearing - by permission - in the society's publication, "Reports to the Clayton/Deer Park Historical Society" Volume 3. The photos appearing on the Society's website are all of modern origin, and were taken by Society associates specifically for the website.)
When he wrote his story, former library director Bauer was almost sixty years closer to the event than we are. It may well be that he obtained the original story from those who were there at the time. While the embellishments added over the years can safely be discarded, the root of the story, as the director told it, could well be true. From what little we know of the quirky and adventurous spirit of Allan Clark, the humor of such an artistic comment would suit him. As for the alleged response of his patron, Henry Suzzallo, that too is understandable.
Also understandable is the fact that the terra cotta works at Clayton were chosen to fire Allan Clark's statues, since, as the Spokesman-Review article states, "the company (was awarded) the contract for all the terra cotta work (at the library)."
The speed with which Allan Clark worked is startling. We know that all eighteen of the preliminary plaster miniatures, and most of the ¾ life-size terra cotta renderings of those miniatures, were completed between the awarding of the commission in November of 1923, and the appearance of the Spokesman-Review article in late March of the next year. The article implied that Clark could render the final clay statues from the plaster miniatures at a rate of something over two a week.
Clark had studied existing drawings, paintings, or photographs of his subjects - so that his work would at least resemble the common public expectation, if not the actual person. He also researched the manner of dress, as well as the accoutrements and affectations common to the homeland and social status of the subject during his lifetime. From the notes and drawing generated by this research, Clark crafted a set of small plaster models to be submitted to the architects and University's faculty for approval.
While the miniatures were most likely modeled at Clark's Tacoma studio, practicality required that the final, raw clay renderings be done at the Clayton factory. As for when Clark actually arrived at Clayton, the Spokesman article said, "he has been at it, off and on, about three months", which would have first placed him at the plant in late December of 1923, or early January of 1924.
Clark's "off and on" work habits included work hours sometimes stretching far into the night, broken by occasional odd hours, days off, and impulsive trips to Puget Sound for rest and recreation with his wife.
The newspaper describes the workshop used at Clayton as an "upper loft", and as a "dingy, dusty workshop, high above the rows of dry kilns at the big terra cotta plant." It is not made clear whether this was in the terra cotta building itself, though if it were, which is most likely, the fourth floor would have been the logical place due to the skylight above the workspace - as indicated in the photos of the unfired statues.
As for what the locals thought of Clark as a person, the Spokesman states that he had become "something of an idol", and "adored by all". Doubtless, this impression was helped by the fact that Clark bunked, at least part of the time, at the company boarding house, and had his lunch delivered in a "workman's dinner pail", with "milk on the side".
For shaping the clay, Clark used wood handled tools - the actual working edge of each tool being a wire loop of a specific shape. It's assumed the wire loops acted as scrapers of sorts, pulling ribbons of clay away from the main mass.
The clay used for the statues would most likely have been the same type used for the factory's more detailed terra cotta work - meaning nothing exotic or imported. The workmen at Clayton were accustomed to the characteristics of the Clayton clays during firing. Considering the fact that each piece to be fired was hand crafted and, if ruined in the kiln, could only be duplicated by the artist himself, the least risky course would be to stay with materials - clays and glazes - that would act in familiar ways.
The clays available in the Clayton area were generally considered of a quality equal to the best anywhere. The primary difference between the clays used at the brick plant, and those used at the terra cotta works, were the steps used in processing and mixing prior to shaping and firing.
In a chemical sense, there is more than one type of clay. In a physical sense, all clays have certain characteristics in common - chief among them the ability, when mixed with a limited amount of water, to become plastic and moldable, and then, having a strong tendency to retain that molded shape when dried.
Most clays used in brick and terra cotta manufacturing are composed, in varying proportions, of a mineral called kaolinite. In its pure form, kaolinite is dull white - though it can present a bluish or grayish tint when wet, due to the presence of trace minerals or, possibly, microorganisms.
As a silicate mineral, kaolin has certain chemical and physical similarities to mica - the small, flat, glittering sheets of transparent mineral seen embedded in granite. However, because of its chemical structure - that being two flat-planed, one molecule thick sheets of somewhat dissimilar composition bonded together - a physical stress is induced between the upper and lower sheets that causes the sheets to break into thin, generally six-sided microscopic plates similar to common talcum powder. While the plates in talcum powder lay flat to each other in response to electrical charges found on the flat surfaces of each flake - an orientation that makes the dry talcum powder slick - kaolin plates tend to clump together at odd jackstraw angles in response to an inherent electrical charge found around the edge of each plate. In other words, flakes of kaolin prefer to clump together in any manner that avoids flat plate surface to flat plate surface contact. Certain unique characteristics of clay rise from this jackstraw particle orientation - such as the ability of the clay to attract and hold free water inside the spaces found between the plates.
Different types of clay, and clays with differing percentages of non-clay components, such as silica sand, mica flakes, and mineral fluxes such as iron, will have different mixing qualities, different shape holding qualities before firing, and different colors before and after firing - as well as unique finished colors, which can vary greatly in any given type of clay in response to the highest temperature reached during firing.
This says nothing of the atmospheric chemistry occurring inside the kiln, which can alter, deliberately or unintentionally, the surface of the product - changing both its color and texture.
Firing is very much an art, but it is an art heavily dependent on either a scientific or empirical understanding of the materials being used, as well as an understanding of the effects that heat will have in chemically altering those materials.
The Clayton clays are generally divided into four color groups; light yellow, dark yellow, light gray, and white. The blending usually used for Clayton terra cotta tended to fire to a cream or pale brownish-yellow color. Since the wares were fired in muffle kilns - double walled kilns where the fire's combustion gases never actually touch the objects stacked in the inner chamber - chemical alterations of the wares by the gases in the kiln's combustion atmosphere was not an issue.
Several extra preparatory steps needed to be taken with the clay prior to it coming under Mister Clark's hands. First it was dried, ground, and sieved through extra-fine screens to remove any oversized particles. Next would have been the addition of ‘grog'.
Grog is once-fired terra cotta clay that is crushed, ground, and sieved to powder. This is then added to the raw clay as filler. Having been fired already, the grog has been chemically altered into a non-clay grit, but it is a grit containing the same elements as the raw clay it's being added to. This means it will not have any unexpected or unpredictable effect on the finished product.
The primary reason for the addition of grog is to control stress in the clay body during shrinkage - shrinkage caused by the clay particles settling into physical contact with each other as water evaporates. While water is needed to make the clay workable, it must be removed before the clay can be fired. During the early stages of firing, any remaining free water will evaporate, and any organic matter in the clay will burn away. By replacing some of the clay's volume with a material that will not shrink until the ware reaches the point of vitrification, shrinkage is reduced. Also, the grog tends to break the jackstraw cohesion of clay particles, allowing channels for water deep inside the thicker wares access to the surface. This is especially important since any water trapped inside the terra cotta will cause cracking during firing.
A final preparatory step is the fermentation of the clay. In his memoirs, Battista Prestini (Leno Prestini's brother), wrote, "After the (terra cotta) clay went through the mixer, it was stored in the basement for a time to allow it to age." It appears that the growth of microorganisms in the clay creates a slime that acts as both an adherent and lubricant, making the clay somewhat more cohesive, and certainly making it easer to work with when it comes to smoothing and finely detailing the surface.
In his workshop, Clark worked with the plaster miniature of his statue sitting to the left of his final rendering.
He used large wooden calipers to cross-reference proportions between the model and the enlarged version. Measurements of the miniature taken with the small jaws located on one end of the calipers would accurately reflect the enlargement necessary between the open jaws at the large end of the calipers.
An optical device containing a reducing lens allowed Clark to view his statues as if he were standing some distance below in the Suzzallo Library courtyard. It was a final check for the effects of light, shadow, and perspective.
As each statue was completed, it was cut in half at the waist, hollowed out, and taken downstairs to the drying room. Three to four weeks of drying were required before the statues could be sprayed with glazing in preparation for firing.
After five days in a muffle kiln, the glaze had fused to the surface of the statues in a lustrous buff-rose color. The clay particles in the terra cotta bodies would have melted into a binding crystal latticework.
Following a period of slow and controlled cooling, the statues were ready for crating and shipping to Seattle, where the upper and lower sections were lifted to their niches on the sides of the library, and cemented together.
In 1924, after firing the Clayton terra cottas and completing the Suzzallo contract, Clark and his wife traveled to Japan, where he studied Japanese woodcarving and polychrome coloring techniques. The couple's next stop was Korea, for more sampling of local artistic tradition. Then on to China, to Peking, where Clark was invited to join an expedition from Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum. This expedition intended to explore cave chapels near the Turkestan border, far to the west. Clark's commission was to make colored drawings of the chapel interiors for the museum's collection.
After the Fogg expedition had accomplished its goal, Clark and wife journeyed alone to southeast Asia - visiting Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. It was in the sexually graphic sculptures covering the walls of Cambodia's Angkor temple complexes that Clark found the inspiration that brought his art to national attention after the couple's return to the states in 1927.
An article in the April 15, 1929 issue of Time magazine described a major art exhibit held in California by the National Sculpture Society. Of the 300 sculptors represented, Allan Clark was among the score mentioned by name. "Glamorous oriental shapes" is the termTime uses to describe Clark's work during that period - work which could easily be viewed as a blending of art deco with oriental sensuality.
That same year, Clark bought a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico. From that point on, and until his death in 1950, the most common subjects for his artistic expression were Native Americans. One such sculpture, a pear-wood bust of a Pueblo woman titled "Maria of Cochita", is in the permanent collection of the Seattle Art Museum.
Though the most immediate threat to Clayton's surviving terra cotta is - as recently demonstrated by the demolition of Spokane's art deco Rookery Building - indifference and the subsequent wrecking ball, another threat is the original systems and techniques used to apply the material, as well as the material itself.
Glazed terra cotta was originally believed to be nearly impervious to weathering. While it has proven reasonably resistant, the original belief led to a set of application techniques that totally exposed the terra cotta to the elements. And though the terra cotta is resistant, it is not impervious.
System failures due to weakness in the grouts, cements, and metal hanger systems used to mount the terra cotta are common, since such systems need complex repair and maintenance. Settling and shifting of buildings puts structural stress on terra cotta components that the components are not designed to withstand. Surface crazing - random cracks appearing in the glaze - occur when the body of the terra cotta expands due to water absorption and places the overlaying and non-expanding glaze under tension. This crazing exposes the body of the terra cotta to even more moisture. Moisture buildup, whether that moisture is introduced through a crazed-glaze surface, or, more likely, migrates from behind as moisture moving out of the heated interior of a building, can create pressure beneath the glaze, and pop small bits of the surface loose in a process called glaze spalling.
Terra cotta does require maintenance and protection from weathering. These facts, along with a growing awareness of how beautiful and important these historic objects and architectural features are, may insure that at least some of the best will survive.
In any event, the statues and other terra cotta artifacts enshrined at the Suzzallo Library are being cared for, and will likely remain an enduring reminder of our community's history for centuries. They will also add to the impressive legacy of the workmen of Clayton's Washington Brick, Lime, & Sewer Pipe Company.
Copyright 2007 - Clayton & Deer Park Historical Society
Recently, a newspaper clipping surfaced from the March 23, 1924 edition of theSpokesman-Review - a clipping that draws one more connection between Clayton's terra cotta factory and a building of historic importance - in this case, a building not likely to ever be deliberately demolished.
On the 14th day of April, 1923, ground was broken on the University of Washington campus in Seattle for construction of the Suzzallo Library reading room. This was to be the first of the Library's three parts, though only two parts of the original design were ever completed.
Shortly after his appointment to Presidency of the university in 1915, construction of a suitable library building for the school had become one of Henry Suzzallo's top priorities. The library's design was to follow the era's most popular architectural style for educational institutions, "Collegiate Tudor Gothic".
Referring to the pre-renaissance cathedrals of Europe, the term Gothic in the above phrase more appropriately means Gothic Revival - a design sensibility originating in England in the mid-18th century. "Tudor" implies an influence from the architectural styles prevalent in England during the reign of the house of Tudor - which ended with the death of the first Queen Elizabeth. These two blended architectural traditions had become the dominant force in college campus design throughout America at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the University of Washington, this Tudor Gothic sensibility expressed itself throughout the Suzzallo Library in what is generally recognized as an uncommonly beautifully manner.
As part of the complex exterior details of the library's first wing were twenty-one statues. Three of these, the ones intended to stand above the library's main entrance, were to be stylized cast-stone figures symbolizing "Mastery, Inspiration, and Thought." The other 18 figures, each to be a realistic representation of an actual historical personage, were to be fired in terra cotta and fitted into wall niches high above the west side courtyard of the 110 foot high building. Or, as the Spokesman-Review article states, "to occupy niches 6o feet above the ground, across the facade and three at each side at the front of the building."
In late November of 1923, the University's President invited the faculty to submit names of individuals representing significant "contributions to learning and culture" that they thought should be immortalized as "external decorative features" of the new library. Two hundred and forty-six names were submitted - eight of which were women, even though the President had specifically stated that the "figures of eighteen men" would be selected from the submitted nominees.
Regent Winlock W. Miller, President Henry Suzzallo, and Dean David Thomson made the final selection, and submitted the names of those chosen to the building committee of the Board of Regents. This committee then commissioned sculptor Allan Clark of Tacoma to create all twenty-one of the library's exterior statues.
Clark and his wife - whom the Spokesman describes as "a writer" - were about to leave on an extensive tour of the Far East - to study various oriental art forms and artistic techniques - when the commission offer arrived. The Clarks postponed their trip.
Allan Clark was born in Missoula, Montana, on June 8, 1896. His family then moved to Tacoma, in Washington State - where he later attended Tacoma's Puget Sound College. From 1916 to 1917, he studied under Albin Polasek, a master stone carver, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Beginning in 1920, after induction into the National Sculpture Society, Clark spent several years at New York City's Art Students League as a student of Robert Aitken, noted architectural sculptor.
One art critic has suggested that the Suzzallo statues were likely the largest single commission Clark ever received. As the critic pointed out, working on commission is quite common for younger, un-established artists. It has the advantage of a reasonable assurance that the work being done will produce a profit - its disadvantage is that the work produced must be acceptable to the expectations of the patron. Artistic license - the freedom to pursue artistic whim - is generally curtailed or removed by the reality of a commission contract.
It is possible that just such an artistic whim leads to the most popular story visitors on current Suzzallo Library tours are told.
In 1951, Harry C. Bauer, then director of the University of Washington Libraries, stated that Allan Clark had included a monkey on his preliminary model of his statue of Charles Darwin. Bauer wrote that the completed and mounted statue would have had the monkey clinging to Darwin's left shoe, and thumbing his nose at the visitors below. The original version of the story stated that University President, Henry Suzzallo, objected, and had the monkey removed. Later on, the story changed, suggesting that Suzzallo's fear of an anti-evolutionist backlash caused him to order that the monkey be removed. Current consensus seems to be that the original story was a fabrication of unknown origin, repeated by director Bauer, and embellished with each retelling.
The only available photo of Clark's preliminary statue of Darwin is one taken in a workshop at Clayton's terra cotta factory. The photograph shows the completed clay statue - perhaps ¾ life size, and beside it the small, plaster model. Light for the photo comes from the overhead skylight, and possibly some type of auxiliary flash. The plaster model is only about 14 inches in height. Its small size, combined with the reflectivity of the white plaster against the shadowed workshop makes details, such as Darwin's left foot, indistinct. The only thing that can be said for certain is that the photo in this writer's possession has no such attachment visible on the left foot of the larger clay rendition - which is consistent with Director Bauer's version of the story.
While it might be possible for modern technology to draw a better image from the original negative, the Coordinator for the Special Collections Division of the University of Washington Libraries, James Stack, stated that the original negative of this photo, as well as the original negatives for all the photos used in this article, could not be located - and may no longer exist. The photos mentioned here were scanned from prints found in the library's collection. (Author's Note: The photo's refered to in the above paragraphs are the ones appearing - by permission - in the society's publication, "Reports to the Clayton/Deer Park Historical Society" Volume 3. The photos appearing on the Society's website are all of modern origin, and were taken by Society associates specifically for the website.)
When he wrote his story, former library director Bauer was almost sixty years closer to the event than we are. It may well be that he obtained the original story from those who were there at the time. While the embellishments added over the years can safely be discarded, the root of the story, as the director told it, could well be true. From what little we know of the quirky and adventurous spirit of Allan Clark, the humor of such an artistic comment would suit him. As for the alleged response of his patron, Henry Suzzallo, that too is understandable.
Also understandable is the fact that the terra cotta works at Clayton were chosen to fire Allan Clark's statues, since, as the Spokesman-Review article states, "the company (was awarded) the contract for all the terra cotta work (at the library)."
The speed with which Allan Clark worked is startling. We know that all eighteen of the preliminary plaster miniatures, and most of the ¾ life-size terra cotta renderings of those miniatures, were completed between the awarding of the commission in November of 1923, and the appearance of the Spokesman-Review article in late March of the next year. The article implied that Clark could render the final clay statues from the plaster miniatures at a rate of something over two a week.
Clark had studied existing drawings, paintings, or photographs of his subjects - so that his work would at least resemble the common public expectation, if not the actual person. He also researched the manner of dress, as well as the accoutrements and affectations common to the homeland and social status of the subject during his lifetime. From the notes and drawing generated by this research, Clark crafted a set of small plaster models to be submitted to the architects and University's faculty for approval.
While the miniatures were most likely modeled at Clark's Tacoma studio, practicality required that the final, raw clay renderings be done at the Clayton factory. As for when Clark actually arrived at Clayton, the Spokesman article said, "he has been at it, off and on, about three months", which would have first placed him at the plant in late December of 1923, or early January of 1924.
Clark's "off and on" work habits included work hours sometimes stretching far into the night, broken by occasional odd hours, days off, and impulsive trips to Puget Sound for rest and recreation with his wife.
The newspaper describes the workshop used at Clayton as an "upper loft", and as a "dingy, dusty workshop, high above the rows of dry kilns at the big terra cotta plant." It is not made clear whether this was in the terra cotta building itself, though if it were, which is most likely, the fourth floor would have been the logical place due to the skylight above the workspace - as indicated in the photos of the unfired statues.
As for what the locals thought of Clark as a person, the Spokesman states that he had become "something of an idol", and "adored by all". Doubtless, this impression was helped by the fact that Clark bunked, at least part of the time, at the company boarding house, and had his lunch delivered in a "workman's dinner pail", with "milk on the side".
For shaping the clay, Clark used wood handled tools - the actual working edge of each tool being a wire loop of a specific shape. It's assumed the wire loops acted as scrapers of sorts, pulling ribbons of clay away from the main mass.
The clay used for the statues would most likely have been the same type used for the factory's more detailed terra cotta work - meaning nothing exotic or imported. The workmen at Clayton were accustomed to the characteristics of the Clayton clays during firing. Considering the fact that each piece to be fired was hand crafted and, if ruined in the kiln, could only be duplicated by the artist himself, the least risky course would be to stay with materials - clays and glazes - that would act in familiar ways.
The clays available in the Clayton area were generally considered of a quality equal to the best anywhere. The primary difference between the clays used at the brick plant, and those used at the terra cotta works, were the steps used in processing and mixing prior to shaping and firing.
In a chemical sense, there is more than one type of clay. In a physical sense, all clays have certain characteristics in common - chief among them the ability, when mixed with a limited amount of water, to become plastic and moldable, and then, having a strong tendency to retain that molded shape when dried.
Most clays used in brick and terra cotta manufacturing are composed, in varying proportions, of a mineral called kaolinite. In its pure form, kaolinite is dull white - though it can present a bluish or grayish tint when wet, due to the presence of trace minerals or, possibly, microorganisms.
As a silicate mineral, kaolin has certain chemical and physical similarities to mica - the small, flat, glittering sheets of transparent mineral seen embedded in granite. However, because of its chemical structure - that being two flat-planed, one molecule thick sheets of somewhat dissimilar composition bonded together - a physical stress is induced between the upper and lower sheets that causes the sheets to break into thin, generally six-sided microscopic plates similar to common talcum powder. While the plates in talcum powder lay flat to each other in response to electrical charges found on the flat surfaces of each flake - an orientation that makes the dry talcum powder slick - kaolin plates tend to clump together at odd jackstraw angles in response to an inherent electrical charge found around the edge of each plate. In other words, flakes of kaolin prefer to clump together in any manner that avoids flat plate surface to flat plate surface contact. Certain unique characteristics of clay rise from this jackstraw particle orientation - such as the ability of the clay to attract and hold free water inside the spaces found between the plates.
Different types of clay, and clays with differing percentages of non-clay components, such as silica sand, mica flakes, and mineral fluxes such as iron, will have different mixing qualities, different shape holding qualities before firing, and different colors before and after firing - as well as unique finished colors, which can vary greatly in any given type of clay in response to the highest temperature reached during firing.
This says nothing of the atmospheric chemistry occurring inside the kiln, which can alter, deliberately or unintentionally, the surface of the product - changing both its color and texture.
Firing is very much an art, but it is an art heavily dependent on either a scientific or empirical understanding of the materials being used, as well as an understanding of the effects that heat will have in chemically altering those materials.
The Clayton clays are generally divided into four color groups; light yellow, dark yellow, light gray, and white. The blending usually used for Clayton terra cotta tended to fire to a cream or pale brownish-yellow color. Since the wares were fired in muffle kilns - double walled kilns where the fire's combustion gases never actually touch the objects stacked in the inner chamber - chemical alterations of the wares by the gases in the kiln's combustion atmosphere was not an issue.
Several extra preparatory steps needed to be taken with the clay prior to it coming under Mister Clark's hands. First it was dried, ground, and sieved through extra-fine screens to remove any oversized particles. Next would have been the addition of ‘grog'.
Grog is once-fired terra cotta clay that is crushed, ground, and sieved to powder. This is then added to the raw clay as filler. Having been fired already, the grog has been chemically altered into a non-clay grit, but it is a grit containing the same elements as the raw clay it's being added to. This means it will not have any unexpected or unpredictable effect on the finished product.
The primary reason for the addition of grog is to control stress in the clay body during shrinkage - shrinkage caused by the clay particles settling into physical contact with each other as water evaporates. While water is needed to make the clay workable, it must be removed before the clay can be fired. During the early stages of firing, any remaining free water will evaporate, and any organic matter in the clay will burn away. By replacing some of the clay's volume with a material that will not shrink until the ware reaches the point of vitrification, shrinkage is reduced. Also, the grog tends to break the jackstraw cohesion of clay particles, allowing channels for water deep inside the thicker wares access to the surface. This is especially important since any water trapped inside the terra cotta will cause cracking during firing.
A final preparatory step is the fermentation of the clay. In his memoirs, Battista Prestini (Leno Prestini's brother), wrote, "After the (terra cotta) clay went through the mixer, it was stored in the basement for a time to allow it to age." It appears that the growth of microorganisms in the clay creates a slime that acts as both an adherent and lubricant, making the clay somewhat more cohesive, and certainly making it easer to work with when it comes to smoothing and finely detailing the surface.
In his workshop, Clark worked with the plaster miniature of his statue sitting to the left of his final rendering.
He used large wooden calipers to cross-reference proportions between the model and the enlarged version. Measurements of the miniature taken with the small jaws located on one end of the calipers would accurately reflect the enlargement necessary between the open jaws at the large end of the calipers.
An optical device containing a reducing lens allowed Clark to view his statues as if he were standing some distance below in the Suzzallo Library courtyard. It was a final check for the effects of light, shadow, and perspective.
As each statue was completed, it was cut in half at the waist, hollowed out, and taken downstairs to the drying room. Three to four weeks of drying were required before the statues could be sprayed with glazing in preparation for firing.
After five days in a muffle kiln, the glaze had fused to the surface of the statues in a lustrous buff-rose color. The clay particles in the terra cotta bodies would have melted into a binding crystal latticework.
Following a period of slow and controlled cooling, the statues were ready for crating and shipping to Seattle, where the upper and lower sections were lifted to their niches on the sides of the library, and cemented together.
In 1924, after firing the Clayton terra cottas and completing the Suzzallo contract, Clark and his wife traveled to Japan, where he studied Japanese woodcarving and polychrome coloring techniques. The couple's next stop was Korea, for more sampling of local artistic tradition. Then on to China, to Peking, where Clark was invited to join an expedition from Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum. This expedition intended to explore cave chapels near the Turkestan border, far to the west. Clark's commission was to make colored drawings of the chapel interiors for the museum's collection.
After the Fogg expedition had accomplished its goal, Clark and wife journeyed alone to southeast Asia - visiting Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. It was in the sexually graphic sculptures covering the walls of Cambodia's Angkor temple complexes that Clark found the inspiration that brought his art to national attention after the couple's return to the states in 1927.
An article in the April 15, 1929 issue of Time magazine described a major art exhibit held in California by the National Sculpture Society. Of the 300 sculptors represented, Allan Clark was among the score mentioned by name. "Glamorous oriental shapes" is the termTime uses to describe Clark's work during that period - work which could easily be viewed as a blending of art deco with oriental sensuality.
That same year, Clark bought a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico. From that point on, and until his death in 1950, the most common subjects for his artistic expression were Native Americans. One such sculpture, a pear-wood bust of a Pueblo woman titled "Maria of Cochita", is in the permanent collection of the Seattle Art Museum.
Though the most immediate threat to Clayton's surviving terra cotta is - as recently demonstrated by the demolition of Spokane's art deco Rookery Building - indifference and the subsequent wrecking ball, another threat is the original systems and techniques used to apply the material, as well as the material itself.
Glazed terra cotta was originally believed to be nearly impervious to weathering. While it has proven reasonably resistant, the original belief led to a set of application techniques that totally exposed the terra cotta to the elements. And though the terra cotta is resistant, it is not impervious.
System failures due to weakness in the grouts, cements, and metal hanger systems used to mount the terra cotta are common, since such systems need complex repair and maintenance. Settling and shifting of buildings puts structural stress on terra cotta components that the components are not designed to withstand. Surface crazing - random cracks appearing in the glaze - occur when the body of the terra cotta expands due to water absorption and places the overlaying and non-expanding glaze under tension. This crazing exposes the body of the terra cotta to even more moisture. Moisture buildup, whether that moisture is introduced through a crazed-glaze surface, or, more likely, migrates from behind as moisture moving out of the heated interior of a building, can create pressure beneath the glaze, and pop small bits of the surface loose in a process called glaze spalling.
Terra cotta does require maintenance and protection from weathering. These facts, along with a growing awareness of how beautiful and important these historic objects and architectural features are, may insure that at least some of the best will survive.
In any event, the statues and other terra cotta artifacts enshrined at the Suzzallo Library are being cared for, and will likely remain an enduring reminder of our community's history for centuries. They will also add to the impressive legacy of the workmen of Clayton's Washington Brick, Lime, & Sewer Pipe Company.
Copyright 2007 - Clayton & Deer Park Historical Society