Oct 23
Making and Knowing: from Physics to Ceramics and Back
This talk is sponsored by the Alan R. and Katharine A. Muirhead Fund for Arts and Sciences Collaboration with support from the Christopher U. Light Lectureship in the Arts
"In our physics lab, my students and I invent, assemble, and debug complex apparatus for studying the interaction of light with matter at a quantum level. It's a making of sorts, aimed at expanding the frontiers of knowledge in a rigorous, reproducible way.
"In the studio I shape clay into sculptural forms, and several times each year my crew and I fire our ceramic works in a wood-burning kiln to make them durable and finish their surfaces. This other kind of making has different aims, which for me tend to swirl around nurturing a creative and expressive partnership with natural materials and processes of transformation—aims complementary to those of scientific making.
"I can think of the firing process as pyrometamorphism and study the miraculous chemical and physical mechanisms of color formation on wood-fired surfaces. Or I can think of it as craft and focus on deepening my intuitive capacities for gauging and responding to the idiosyncrasies of each firing. In this talk I'll attempt to harmonize my interests in and approaches to ceramics as both physicist and maker, and will reflect upon how this duality shapes my most expansive aspirations."
Hideo Mabuchi is a Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford, exploring a nexus of conventional scientific research in quantum optics and physics of computation. Mabuchi's work also extends to the science of traditional craft materials and processes, bridging STEM fields with the arts and humanities.
Mabuchi will also be assisting in the firing of our wood kiln on Friday, October 24. Everyone is welcome to an open house celebration at the kiln from 7:30-8:30pm.
from Art & Art History