Ray Rogers was born near Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand, in 1935. He worked in the petro-chemical industry but after discovering his affinity with the clay medium in 1969 he devoted himself to pottery and was initially self-taught. Initially he was an adherent to the Leach/Hamada tradition and held his first one man show in Auckland in 1974. He was an exhibiting member of the New Zealand Society of Potters, the Auckland Studio Potters, and is an Artist Member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Rogers is especially noted for his exploitation of a pit firing technique. He studied this technique in California in 1980 and introduced it to New Zealand in 1981 and also to Australia, where he came to live after winning the Fletcher Brownbuilt International Award in 1983. His work is fired in a relatively primitive method, using a large pit dug into the ground. Wood and pots are layered within the pit, and then fired. Rogers continues to explore pit firing as the method sympathetic to the hand built forms he creates. Each piece is considered in order to maintain harmony with the vagaries of the fire where contrasts are achieved on the pots by the flame and heat of the fire.
He remarked of his works in the catalogue of 'Evolution of style: the decorative spirit in Australian contemporary crafts’ at the Craft Centre Gallery, Sydney, in 1985:
I am continuing to explore pit-firing as this Primitive method of firing best suits my work. Character is developed by the Resolution of each piece being kept in harmony with the Vagaries of the fire. One can observe the individuality, not only in the forms but also in the way hues and tones move across each surface. Sometimes the colours are subtle allowing the forms to speak for themselves. Black fungoid areas contrast with softer movements often referred to as Intergalactic. I endeavour to achieve contrasts that offer a challenge for the observer. There is new work in the exhibition showing a gradual change of direction. I like to move slowly as inspiration allows and believe that ones best work is achieved in this way.
During the early 1990s he began to experiment by introducing other organic materials and metallic salts such as silver chloride and bismuth nitrate to his firings. Metallic salts especially provided a lustrous surface and were fired up to five times to provide the depth of the desired effect.
Pit firing is a technique which began to attract many adherents over the succeeding years because of the striking colour variations that the firing can impart. Like Ray Roger’s work, the forms chosen are generally simple spherical forms to enhance the decorative, random effect of the flames. The high point of his career was probably in 1997 when he demonstrated his firing techniques at the 1997 International Ceramics Festivalat Aberystwyth in Wales.
Rogers was a member of the Potters Society of Australia for many years but resigned in 2003 as he had ceased his involvement with ceramics.
Research Curator, Queensland Heritage, Queensland Art Gallery.
